A significant number will be entering camps to prepare for the delayed European Championships. Only one will be thinking about their commitments ahead of Ireland’s international friendly with Andorra next Thursday. That is the itinerary facing Anthony Barry, the Chelsea coach who joined Stephen Kenny’s staff in February as the replacement for Damien Duff.

He arrived with an excellent reputation and made a fine impression. And his experience level will have soared in the intervening period, with a first-hand role in the preparations for the encounter with Pep Guardiola’s Man City above what his better-known predecessor would have sampled.

“It’s probably the most high-profile game in club football anywhere in the world and we have a coach that is working in it,” says Ruaidhri Higgins, the former Ireland chief scout who left last month to take over at Derry City. “Obviously the credit goes to Stephen for going and getting him. It’s great that our country have the quality of coach that he is.”

Kenny has pointed to Higgins’ pivotal role in the recruitment of Barry. They were teenage colleagues at Coventry before going their separate ways, meeting by chance years later as they took their coaching badges through the IFA in Belfast.

The playing career of the Liverpudlian was hindered by injuries but he has found his niche in the coaching sphere, rising through the ranks because of a skillset that wins people over instantly. After hanging up his boots at 30, he struck up a rapport with Paul Cook and worked as his first-team coach at Wigan. But his path to Chelsea was paved by ending up on the same Pro Licence course as Frank Lampard.

Barry wowed the class and when Lampard got his big chance at Stamford Bridge, he eventually came calling. However, Thomas Tuchel did his research and picked up the vibe that Barry should be kept on. “That’s probably the biggest compliment that could be paid to him,” says Higgins. “You (Ireland) are very lucky, a top coach will join and your coaching staff,” said Tuchel back in March. “We didn’t know him before. From the first moment he was a big part of our coaching team. He’s a fantastic guy with a fantastic character, very open and friendly.”

Indeed, his pal from home, the former Sligo Rovers midfielder Danny Ventre, told the Irish Mirror that Barry’s people skills allowed him to always make an excellent first impression. “He could speak to Presidents, Prime Ministers or scally people. He gets on line with every type of character,” he joked.

The vibes from the Ireland camp about his impact around the games with Serbia, Luxembourg and Qatar were very positive, even if results didn’t quite go to plan. “The lads loved him,” says one player who has been around the set-up for a while. “He was tactically brilliant and a really good person to speak with one-to-one.”

That sentiment was verified by others in the group, and while Barry will be a late arrival to Kenny’s summer camp, a week on the training ground around the fixtures with Andorra and Hungary should allow further integration.

“He’s very, very good on every facet of the game,” says Higgins. “He’s good with people, and he’s tactically very good, he’s an enthusiastic coach, and he’ll fit in perfectly alongside Stephen and Keith (Andrews). When we were doing our badges in Belfast, you could see all of that.

"I had a good feeling back then that he would go on and do things. He’s grounded and down to earth and he has respect for everybody. Straight away, people take to him as a person. And when you see him perform as a coach, he has a lot of strings to his bow.”

Coverage of Barry’s work at Chelsea has largely centred around his expertise with set-pieces. When an unexpected short corner resulted in James McClean’s early opener in the game with Qatar, the celebrations on the sideline confirmed that it was a Barry special. But insiders also warned against pigeonholing him. Ireland will benefit from that knowledge once Champions League final tactical plan is out of the way.