Stephen Kenny knows it’s not the perfect fixture with Ireland’s next meaningful match in mind.
But beggars can’t be choosers.
And at a time when the best in the world, including next March’s opponents France, are otherwise engaged, priorities blur.
For Kenny and his players, number one right now is not to find an opponent that will mirror the French and the substantial challenge they pose, but to get more minutes together, both on the training pitch and on the field of play.
So when the invite dropped into FAI HQ in Abbotstown to jet out to sunny Malta for a few days in November, Kenny gave the thumbs up.
At the very least, it’s a few days away from the increasingly cold weather in Dublin, where the team trained this past week and hosted Norway on Thursday night.
There should be no need for Matt Doherty to pack in the gloves he wore as he paced up and down the right flank at the Aviva.
Temperatures in Valletta yesterday, as the team arrived, hit 24 degrees.
And while some thunderstorms are forecast for tomorrow, it’s still a very happy middle ground between the biting cold of home and the stifling heat of Qatar.
No need either for gloves or a state-of-the-art air conditioning system in the Ta’Qali, then.
But while the Maltese will provide a different challenge to the one we can expect from France, regardless of the outcome of their World Cup campaign, the need for a positive performance and result is acute.
Thursday’s defeat, on the back of a loss in Scotland and last-gasp win over Armenia in September, means momentum is shifting in the opposite direction right now for Ireland to where Kenny had hoped by now.
It’s been a strange year - packed with both feelgood moments and times of despair.
From a centenary celebration and draw against Belgium, and a Troy Parrott injury-time winner after 94 minutes of non-stop attack against Lithuania to the disappointment of Yerevan, fortunes have peaked and troughed at a dizzying rate.
Defeat at home to Ukraine - in an emotion-packed affair for the war-torn nation was then followed by the great promise of a Scotland rout and a Nathan Collins moment of magic when Ukraine ‘hosted’ Kenny’s side in Poland.
September’s fixtures brought us crashing back down to earth and Thursday’s night’s first-half frustrations in front of a subdued crowd added to the gloom.
While the second-half yielded a much better performance, the big takeaway was the poor defending at set-pieces.
And so here we are, in our shorts and t-shirts, soaking up some bonus sunshine deep into November, looking for a result and performance that ends the year on a high note.
Four months of dwelling over a poor display would do nobody any good.
Kenny has promised changes to his team tomorrow, so that could see Chiedozie Ogbene make a start ahead of Michael Obafemi.
There might even be a full debut for 18-year-old Evan Ferguson, who came off the bench for his first senior cap on Thursday night.
But this will be nothing like a dress rehearsal ahead of France next March.
“No I get that,” Kenny conceded, “it’s players getting more games under their belt.
“Some players have not played that much so it’s important that players get games under their belts so there are benefits from that point of view.
“There are not a lot of available matches. You’d rather take the matches than not take them. That’s the way I view it.”
No doubt he spent a good chunk of yesterday’s travel day pouring over footage of the Norway defeat.
“It was a very tactical game,” he explained. “We had a lot of possession, they had some possession, they’ve obviously got an exceptional player in (Arsenal’s Martin) Odegaard in midfield, he’s a really good player.
“When you are playing against a team like that, the way they play with such a narrow back four, the space is in the wide areas.
“Calum O’Dowda had two or three chances in the second half, that’s where the space was. They are difficult to play through, very difficult to play through.”
O’Dowda could find himself benched, despite his encouraging display, so that Kenny can give Robbie Brady another chance to prove himself in the left-wing-back role.
He has long admired O’Dowda - even before he came into the senior role. Injuries, however, have restricted the Cardiff City man to a bit-part role under Kenny so far.
His lay-offs might also have dented his confidence, as much as they have stunted his development for club and country.
“He’s not a natural defender, of course, he’s a natural dribbler,” the Ireland boss continued.
“He just needs to believe in himself that he can play at this level, because he can. He just needs to have the confidence.
“He showed more confidence in the second half in relation to being direct in his running and his natural dribbling ability that differentiates him from the other candidates in that position.”
Elsewhere on the pitch he needs to see a cutting edge in the final third.
“We saw it in the second half. We didn’t see it in the first half, in terms of cutting edge in our team,” he said, reviewing Thursday’s performance.
And there needs to be an elimination of the errors at set-plays that saw Ireland cough up two goals to Norway.
“Nathan has headed it against their player, just broke to him, it’s a snap shot,” he said of young Wolves centre-half Nathan Collins’ inadvertant hand in Norway’s winner.
“It’s not a situation we should have found ourselves in. We should have dealt with it as a unit and it’s not a goal we should concede from there.”
“There will be some changes,” he added, but ruled out a switch to a back-four.
“I just think the characteristics of the team, the players we’ve got, this definitely suits the team and playing in the way that we are.
“We’ve a lot of central defenders, we’ve got wing-backs and we’ve got to maximise the talent that we have and I think it’s a system that suits the players that we have best.”
Whatever the personnel, whatever the shape and whatever the outcome tomorrow, judgement will be delivered on one man more than any other.
“I’m responsible for every area,” said Kenny.
And with France on the horizon, the need to get things right, even in this imperfect fixture, is more pressing than ever.
