At 28 years of age, Stephen Kelly's had to be patient for a run of international games to come his way.
From the time he made his senior international debut in 2006 against Chile, there's been a series of right-backs blocking his path to the regular spot.
First there was his former Tottenham Hotspur teammate Stephen Carr, then Steve Finnan and, more recently, John O'Shea.
All of which meant it's only during 2011 that the appearances have flowed to give him a caps haul of 28.
O'Shea's hamstring injury rules the Sunderland defender out of Friday's Euro 2012 play-off first leg tie against Estonia in Tallinn and the indications are Kelly will be called upon to deputise by Republic of Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni.
Kelly believes he's in the right vein of form, for his club Fulham and country, to be counted on to perform in what he describes as the biggest game of his international career.
"Any time there's been an opportunity for the manager to play me, he's done so," says the Dubliner.
"I played left back in last game (against Armenia) and right-back before that against Russia.
"I've played a lot of big games in this campaign. This has been the campaign that I've been able to show myself, really get to grips with it and make an impact. Hopefully, I'm able to do that in Estonia.
"We're on the brink of a playing at major tournament and these two are the games that will get us there. If I do get to play, hopefully it's a game I have fond memories of."
He added: "We are capable of getting a result over there and we won't deviate from the sensible style of football that has got us here.
"We'll continue being hard to beat, which has seen us concede one goal in 9 games. I managed to play in 7 of those games and, if we continue that way, I can see us qualifying.
"The manager will have us well schooled going into Friday's game. I played against the Estonian goalkeeper a few weeks ago for my club and he was decent.
"We're not expecting just to turn up and win this game. I'm not being cocky; we're not going in thinking that the game is just going to be a walkover but we'll go in with the feeling and the attitude that we can win the game.
"It would be a special achievement to go on and qualify from these two games."
