Nineteen long days with no opportunity to put that dramatic late defeat by Wales behind them, an infuriating competitive drought described as "far from ideal" by captain Paul O'Connell, and now the flood cometh: four matches in 22 days.
Ireland's Six Nations campaign is just one Test old but, after their first opening loss in eight seasons and the late postponement in frozen Paris, already it looks set to test the depth of resources and mental power within Declan Kidney's squad more than he will have expected at the outset.
And all this without injured talisman Brian O'Driscoll, the first Six Nations he's missed in more than a decade.
But the manager - who has retained the same XV for the France game after mulling changes - will hope that kicking their heels in frustration will see his players explode out of the traps like caged lions against Italy, against whom they have won all of their 12 Six Nations fixtures.
Predictably, Ireland are clear favourites to beat the perennial Wooden Spoon contenders, but the pressure is still on. Not only have Ireland never lost their two opening Six Nations games (the last time they suffered that ignominy was in the old days of the Five Nations, in 1998), they have not lost back-to-back Six Nations Tests since 2005 - and have not lost four on the bounce in Dublin since 1997.
Italy should provide a different set of challenges, although with their physical attributes - especially in the ruck, maul and scrum areas - rarely in question, they are looking to make their game more expansive.
Much is expected of Tobias Botes at fly-half. He replaces Kris Burton, who, with better kicking, would have secured a famous victory against England. Though France saw them off relatively easily on the opening weekend, the Azzurri, increasingly less predictable, should have beaten Stuart Lancaster's team - and will be fired up to make amends.
Ireland : 15-Kearney, 14-Bowe, 13-Earls, 12-D'Arcy, 11-Trimble, 10-Sexton, 9-Murray; 1-Healy, 2-Best, 3-Ross, 4-O'Callaghan, 5-O'Connell (c), 6-Ferris, 7-O'Brien, 8-Heaslip.
Replacements: 16-Cronin, 17-Court, 18-Ryan, 19-O'Mahony, 20-Reddan, 21-O'Gara, 22-McFadden.
Italy : 15-Masi, 14-Venditti, 13-Benvenuti, 12-Sgarbi, 11-McLean, 10-Botes, 9-Gori; 1-Rizzo, 2-Ghiraldini, 3-Cittadini, 4-Geldenhuys, 5-Bortolami, 6-Zanni, 7-Barbieri, 8-Parisse (c).
Replacements: 16-D'Apice, 17-Staibano, 18-Pavanello, 19-Favaro, 20-Semenzato, 21-Burton, 22-Canale.
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee : Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges : Nigel Owens (Wales), David Changleng (Scotland)
TV : Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
