Darren Randolph is celebrating a place at the 2016 UEFA European Championship finals after the Republic of Ireland completed a 3-1 aggregate play-off victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The West Ham United goalkeeper was flawless as the Boys in Green secured their place in France with a 2-0 second-leg win at the sold-out Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Monday evening. Stoke City's Jon Walters scored both goals for Martin O'Neill's side.
Speaking moments after the final whistle, the 28-year-old was delighted to take his chance after replacing the injured Shay Given early in Ireland's vital 1-0 home qualifying win over world champions Germany last month.
"It's unbelievable," he smiled. "I don't think I could have written the script better myself!
"I didn't see it ending with me playing but thankfully I've got to play some games and we're through and that's all that matters!"
Previously, Randolph had also played the full 90 minutes of the Republic of Ireland's 1-1 draw in the first leg in Zenica. Robbie Brady's late goal was cancelled out by an even later one by Edin Dzeko, but that was rendered academic as the Irish produced a fantastic display on home soil.
Elsewhere, Cheikhou Kouyate and Senegal came from 2-0 down to rescue a 2-2 draw against Madagascar in the first leg of their 2018 FIFA World Cup second qualifying round tie.
Kouyate played 80 minutes as Senegal ensured they would return home with two away goals in the bag ahead of Tuesday's second leg in Dublin.
Closer to home, James Collins was a second half substitute as Wales were defeated 3-2 by the Netherlands in a friendly on Friday night.
On Wednesday, Reece Burke’s England U20s were defeated 4-3 by France, but a second meeting between the two countries was understandably postponed following Friday's horrific events in Paris.
Martin Samuelsen’s Norway U19s were in Russia for UEFA European U19 Championship qualifying Group 9. Norway lost the first game of their tournament 2-1 to Northern Ireland. Samuelsen scored twice in a 2-2 draw with Slovakia to give the Scandinavians hope, only for a 1-1 draw with the host nation to eliminate them.
Josh Cullen and Ireland U21s were defeated 3-1 in Lithuania on Friday, while Sam Howes played as England U19 fought from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 withe the Netherlands. Reece Oxford was an unused substitute.
Oxford did not have to wait too much longer to make his debut at U19 level, though, as he started and played 45 minutes in a 5-1 win over Japan in Manchester on Sunday.