Martin O'Neill's team started 2015 with a draw at home to Poland, which required a late goal from Shane Long, and that set the tone for the reminder of the campaign.
There was a renewed hunger amongst the squad and they continued to progress as a team with each game onwards from the friendly with England at Aviva Stadium in June.
At that stage, Ireland needed to pick up as many points as possible considering group rivals Germany, Poland, and Scotland were all targeting a place at the 2016 finals in France.
A draw at home to Scotland - where Jonathan Walters was on target - helped in that pursuit before back-to-back wins over Gibraltar and Georgia really lifted the confidence of the team.
Next up was a battle with reigning world champions Germany. They had secured an edge over Ireland in recent years, but a draw away earlier in the campaign gave Ireland belief that they could match them. Well, a superb strike from Long did one better as Ireland claimed a memorable victory.
Even though they narrowly lost to Poland in Warsaw after that, Ireland had done enough to make it through to the Play-Offs, where they would take on Bosnia & Herzegovina. A goal from Robbie Brady in the first leg gave them a crucial away goal before Walters netted a double in the return leg to help Ireland advance.
It was the perfect ending to the year for Ireland and they will now look forward to 2016.
Results
Rep of Ireland 1-1 Poland, UEFA Qualifier, Aviva Stadium, 29 March
Rep of Ireland 0-0 England, Friendly, Aviva Stadium, 7 June
Rep of Ireland 1-1 Scotland, UEFA Qualifier, Aviva Stadium, 13 June
Gibraltar 0-4 Rep of Ireland, UEFA Qualifier, Faro, Portugal, 4 September
Rep of Ireland 1-0 Georgia, UEFA Qualifier, Aviva Stadium, 7 September
Rep of Ireland 1-0 Germany, UEFA Qualifier, Aviva Stadium, 8 October
Poland 2-1 Rep of Ireland, UEFA Qualifier, Warsaw, 11 October
Bosnia & Herzegovina 1-1 Rep of Ireland, UEFA Play-Off, Zenica, 13 November
Rep of Ireland 2-0 Bosnia & Herzegovina, UEFA Play-Off, Aviva Stadium, 16 November
Appearances
9 – Robbie Brady, James McCarthy
8 – Jeff Hendrick, Wes Hoolahan, Shane Long, John O’Shea, Jonathan Walters, Glenn Whelan
7 – Seamus Coleman, James McClean
6 – Shay Given
5 – Robbie Keane, Aiden McGeady, Daryl Murphy
4 – Ciaran Clark, Richard Keogh, Darren Randolph, Marc Wilson
2 – Cyrus Christie, Stephen Ward
1 – Harry Arter, David McGoldrick, Paul McShane, David Meyler, Stephen Quinn, Keiren Westwood
Goals
5 – Jonathan Walters
3 – Shane Long
2 – Robbie Keane
1 – Robbie Brady, Cyrus Christie
Clean Sheets
4 – Shay Given
2 – Darren Randolph
1 – Keiren Westwood