You're probably wondering how exactly we got here.
The date is June 30, 2002. It's the FIFA World Cup Final, at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, Japan.
In the 80th minute, Brazilian forward Rivaldo is leading a four-on-three counter attack as the favourites look to seal a fifth World Cup.
Brazil already lead 1-0, but have been put under significant pressure in the second half courtesy of their final opponents - the Republic of Ireland?
Stay with us.
Led by inspirational captain and the world's best midfielder Roy Keane, the Irish have set the pace during a bonkers tournament defined by underdog upsets.
Keane is now caught out of position, attempting to slide to block Rivaldo's square ball to his team-mate, Ronaldinho, and stop what looks to be a certain clinching goal.
But before we see if the Corkman can make one last-ditch effort to save his side and keep the dream alive, we need to examine the story of this tournament, and just how little old Ireland have put it up to the aristocrats of world football.
***
Much of the build up for this tournament was dominated by captain Keane's relationship with his manager, Mick McCarthy.
The two have been historically frosty, going right the way back to McCarthy's playing days when he chastised a number of the younger players, including Keane, for going too hard on the drinks during an Ireland trip to the USA in 1992.
The two co-existed relatively peacefully besides for a couple of years before McCarthy's playing career wound down, and Keane thought he'd probably seen the back of him.
But fret not, dear reader, this was only the beginning.
In 1996, McCarthy was the anointed successor to the legendary Jack Charlton as Ireland's manager, putting him in direct charge of a squad following Keane's lead on the pitch.
That is, when Keane was present, as over the years the two have clashed over his supposed dedication to the Irish cause.
Keane previously went AWOL (read: on the piss at a cricket game) before a 1998 World Cup qualifier against Portugal.
He's previously demanded meetings with the manager to bring the training, gear, and diet of the squad up to standard.
He's hinted at quitting during the qualification for this very World Cup, on several occasions.
And even now, playing in the biggest game in the sport, against a nation with a population 35 times the size of Ireland's, and holding their own, the Irish watching in the early hours back home know Keane came very close to missing this game as well.
***
Before heading to their main training base, the Ireland team had a little siesta on the island of Saipan.
A four day warm weather training mini-camp before the World Cup seemed like a great idea on paper, but the tensions between Keane and McCarthy reached a boiling point.
The 17-hour flight was an uncomfortable disaster and, after initially arriving before all their gear and having to delay the start to their programme, they arrived at their pitch to find it bone dry.
Amateur irrigation efforts then somehow managed to leave it waterlogged before Keane exploded at goalkeeper Alan Kelly after the netminders opted out of the usual training match due to fatigue.
A tell-all interview from Keane was run in the Irish Times a couple of days later which angered McCarthy, who called a team meeting to settle the beef in public.
However, McCarthy, upon the advice of goalkeeping coach Packie Bonner, cancelled the meeting a couple of hours later, and instead approached Keane privately in his hotel room that night.
Keane had been discussing the situation with his agent, his family, and his Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, and had seemingly calmed down before McCarthy came to visit.
The pair held an uneasy meeting, which got a bit loud at times, but ultimately agreed to settle their differences for the good of the campaign.
Disaster averted, the squad flew to the mainland fully intact where, for what its worth, the players described the pitches as like playing on a carpet.
***
Tensions remained between the two behind the scenes as McCarthy batted away the questions publicly, but how did all this disruption affect the Irish side?
Well, it turns out, not at all actually - at least on the surface.
Ireland are here, in the final, but they also lost their opening game of the tournament.
Keane captained a side that lined out: Given; Kelly, Breen, Staunton, Harte; McAteer, Keane (c), Holland, Kilbane; Duff; Robbie Keane.
But in that game against Cameroon, the Irish side struggled to keep up with the Indomitable Lions, and went down 1-0 early after Samuel Eto'o danced past Gary Kelly before teeing up an easy tap-in for Patrick M'Boma.
In a tight game, it was Keane himself who had the best chance with a low drive from distance, but it didn't trouble Alioum Boukar and Ireland lost.
McCarthy was put on blast after the game for an overly-defensive approach which failed to pay off, and Ireland needed a result against a German side that had just battered Saudi Arabia 8-0 to keep going.
However, that's exactly what they got.
Ireland made two changes, dropping Jason McAteer for striker Niall Quinn and moving Damien Duff to the right-wing, while also replacing Kelly with the energetic Steve Finnan.
Keane and Matt Holland pulled a masterful defensive performance out of their pockets as they shadowed the talismanic Michael Ballack and Didi Hamann, who both woefully underperformed on the opposite side.
Germany had chances, but Ireland had the measure on the counter as Quinn linked up with the other Keane, Robbie, who slotted past Oliver Kahn late on to give Ireland a famous victory.
The German collapse continued as they went down 2-0 to surprise group winners Cameroon and were eliminated, while McCarthy made a number of changes against the Saudis.
Ireland's second stringers struggled for large parts to break down a side many considered just as good as the two co-hosts, Japan and South Korea.
But a Lee Carsley header from a corner with half an hour to go and a late goal from McAteer secured the three points and progression.
Next up: Spain.
***
Ireland were restored to the same XI that beat Germany, and with a rested Keane pulling the strings, they held their own against a surprisingly toothless Spain side.
And it was Captain Fantastic himself that gave Ireland the lead, following up a Duff shot saved by Iker Casillas to smash home the opener after just four minutes.
Yet Spain levelled after just 12 minutes, an outstanding Fernando Morientes header beating Shay Given.
But, barring one Juan Carlos Valeron goal that was ruled out for offside, that was it, as Ireland's high press suffocated their typically pretty play.
And the pressure paid off when Duff - really making a name for himself cutting in from the right after his shift to that side - was bundled over by Juanfran in the box.
Ian Harte slotted home the spot kick, Robbie Keane notched an injury-time sealer, and Ireland progressed 3-1. A quarter-final awaited against the hosts, but this would be no Italia 90 repeat.
South Korea turfed the Italians out in the last 16 after an Ahn Jung-hwan golden goal - with the alleged help of some questionable linesmen decisions.
And so it transpired that Ireland also had a goal chalked off by a flag-happy official as Holland rose highest to nod home a Harte free kick from an apparent offside position just before half time.
Replays showed the goal was, more than likely, perfectly fine, and Ireland then had the ball in the back of the net a second time thanks to a Quinn volley.
But that was also chalked off due to an apparent handball by the big Drimnagh man as he chested it down around the hour mark.
Keane, already on a yellow card after scything down future United team-mate Park Ji-sung, gesticulated wildly with the referee before old head Steve Staunton pushed him away before he could be potentially sent off.
Keane was then taken off, to avoid a red and a suspension, and threw the armband down at Staunton's feet before glaring at McCarthy as Mark Kinsella awkwardly shuffled past him onto the field.
But with just seconds to go, Staunton made a crucial interception of a rampaging Park's cross before calmly passing out to Holland.
The Ipswich man, sensing the opportunity, sent the ball over to the right-hand side where wing-back Lee Young-pyo was caught out of position by a charging Duff.
The Ballyboden native brilliantly controlled the pass with the outside of the left boot, charged 20 yards, cut inside Kim Tae-young and curled a beauty from 18 yards right into the top corner.
No dodgy linesmanning could take that one away. Ireland had snatched a semi-final spot, and history beckoned.
***
We said it was a World Cup of underdogs. Ireland in the final. Cameroon, Denmark, Sweden, and both hosts topped groups. Turkey going on a run to the semi-finals on the other side of the bracket. South Korea and Senegal making the last eight.
Cameroon, like Ireland, came through the last 16 against Paraguay but were themselves subject to a shock defeat by, of all countries, the United States, who reached their first World Cup semi-final since the very first edition in 1930.
It meant we were guaranteed a first-time finalist and, from the off, it looked like that would be the US.
Landon Donovan danced around in the hole, with Keane and Holland chasing shadows in the middle at the start.
The Leverkusen man went close twice, just curling a low effort wide inside the opening 15 minutes before stinging Given's gloves from point-blank after a perfect Claudio Reyna pass.
The Americans looked to have the measure of a tired Ireland side, who had made no changes since the last 16.
But a free-kick late in the first half, against the run of play, would prove to be the breakthrough, as Harte curled one in from the right to be met by the towering head of - yep, you guessed it - Roy Keane.
1-0 at the break soon became 2-0 as Quinn and Robbie Keane repeated their link-up against Germany to double Ireland's advantage on the hour mark.
The US did deservedly strike with 15 to go as Gregg Berhalter headed home from a Reyna free kick, and Given was on hand to claw a Tony Sanneh header out of the corner late on.
But the whistle blew with no further drama. Ireland were in a World Cup Final.
***
It had not all gone exactly to plan in the build up.
Saipan hasn't exactly just gone away, and reports of Keane criticising McCarthy for pulling him off the field in the South Korea game came out.
McCarthy continued to be diplomatic in the press and when talking to fans who were definitely sympathetic to the decision - after all, had Keane been sent off, he wouldn't have been on the field to open the scoring against the US.
Some calls were made to maybe throw out a more defensively-minded team in the final, but the tried and trusted XI was trotted out once more, this time to face their mightiest challenge.
Brazil had breezed through so far and, in a tournament where big hitters like Argentina, Portugal, Germany, and European Champions France all fell at the first hurdles, the four-time winners comfortably topped their group and then swatted aside Belgium, England, and the Turks to breeze into the final relatively untroubled.
With Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, and the emerging Kleberson pulling the strings for the deadly Ronaldo up top, and a solid back five marshalled by Lucio in the centre, Luiz Felipe Scolari's men were easily the toughest test Ireland had faced so far.
Keane seemed up to the task, and a key tackle early on denied Ronaldinho a chance to slip in the tournament's top scorer.
But Ronaldo, funny haircut and all, would soon make his mark, at least on Shay Given's gloves, as Finnan hustled the future Real Madrid man into a rushed effort straight at the Newcastle goalkeeper after half an hour.
Another chance went begging as Holland gave the ball away to Kleberson, who's mazy run teased Gary Breen out of position and allowed Ronaldo that yard of space.
But again, a quick-thinking Given was there to close him down, and Ronaldo's attempted chip sailed harmlessly over the bar.
Half-time, it's 0-0, and it's all one-way traffic for Brazil. But McCarthy doubles down to the more expansive approach, and Ireland come out in the second half fighting.
Keane slid through Duff again who's curling effort, similar to his strike against South Korea, needed saving by Marcos, while a Harte free kick after Quinn was fouled by Edmilson gently kissed the crossbar as it sailed over.
But while Ireland piled on the pressure, that front four for Brazil were waiting for the chance to pounce and, after Gilberto Silva nicked the ball from Keane in midfield, he set off the tricky Kleberson.
A dive in by Breen left Staunton exposed as Kleberson cut left before sliding one across the six-yard box where Ronaldo inevitably crashed the front post and rocketed an effort past Given despite Finnan's last-ditch tackle.
1-0 Brazil, Ronaldo 67'. But McCarthy triples down.
Jason McAteer is called upon to replace Holland as Ireland go for it, and the super-sub nearly snatched an equaliser with a long-range strike that needed more intervention from Marcos.
Both Keanes had chances, Roy just heading over from a corner while Robbie was also denied by the Palmeiras stopper from close range with about 15 minutes to go.
But once again, the front four were waiting, and after Harte's corner was headed clear by Lucio, Roberto Carlos nicked the ball passed McAteer and pushed it through to Rivaldo.
Rivaldo carried it down the line as Breen stood him up, with only Staunton and Given to cover. Keane was galloping back, while Cafu and Ronaldinho stretched the pitch on the right. Ronaldo, defending from the corner, was a step behind Keane.
"And Brazil are out here now with Rivaldo... measures up Breen... cross in, blocked by Keane!"
Disaster averted. Keane, caught out of position, slid to block Rivaldo's square ball to Ronaldinho, and stop what looked to be a certain clinching goal.
The Corkman's last-ditch effort saved the side, and kept the dream alive.
"But it falls for Ronaldooooooooooo!"
Ah.
Yeah, we've had enough fairytale, time for the crushing reality.
2-0. Late punts on Carsley and Clinton Morrison from the bench do little as Juninho and Denilson come on for Ronaldinho and Ronaldo to shore up the Brazilian resolve. They hold on, Cafu lifts the World Cup trophy, Brazil win for a fifth time.
***
A number of Irish players made big moves after their performances. Duff parlayed his excellent World Cup, which saw him named in the Team of the Tournament, into a blockbuster move to Liverpool, who also brought back a reinvigorated Staunton as experienced cover in his last season in the Premier League.
Holland joined his fellow standout Given at Newcastle, while Steve Finnan left Fulham for West London rivals Cheslea. Robbie Keane, despite interest from Manchester United, ultimately chose to stay at Leeds for one more season - that is, until financial pressure forced a late-stage move to Tottenham after United blew the budget on signing Rio Ferdinand instead.
Back at home, the squad are welcomed back as heroes. Keane and McCarthy both have their key moments trawled over, but ultimately the rivalry is set aside as the pride of the nation washes the bad scent of Saipan away.
That is, until Ireland fail to qualify for Euro 2004.
Toxicity began to seep in again after a battering by Russia in their first game and, despite taking 12 points off Albania and Georgia, Ireland struggled against Russia and group leaders Switzerland.
Keane's commitment to the cause once again came under scrutiny after he pulled out of the key Swiss game with an apparent knee injury. Ireland lost 2-1, finished 3rd, and failed to qualify.
McCarthy was subsequently sacked, and Keane retired from international football shortly thereafter. His glittering CV has a World Cup runners-up medal added to it, but ultimately, Saipan as a location was totally arbitrary.
The explosion between the two was simply always inevitable.
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