Martin O'Neill admitted it was ironic that his Republic of Ireland side will have to slug it out with Scotland for Euro 2016 qualification.
It was the Scottish and Republic of Ireland football associations which proposed the expansion of the European Championship agreed by UEFA member nations back in 2009, but it seems unlikely that both countries will qualify directly given they were drawn in Group D along with Germany, Poland and Georgia, as well as UEFA's newest member Gibraltar.
O'Neill said: "I think it's the toughest group but it's an exciting one. We have got Scotland, we have Poland who we have played in a recent friendly and whose recent efforts (against England) at Wembley were not too bad at all.
"Somebody told me (the associations had proposed expanding the tournament) so it is ironic they have ended up in the same group."
It will bring O'Neill face to face with his fellow ex-Celtic manager Gordon Strachan and he added: "They will be great occasions I hope.
"I'm sure he (Strachan) is looking forward to it. I'm sure he'll be as excited as I am myself. It's tough, there are other groups we might have preferred to be in but we'll get on with it.
"Germany you would say are the outstanding side in the group but there's plenty to fight for."
Scotland boss Strachan claimed it was a "terrific draw" - while other groups appeared "mundane".
Strachan said: "It will be tough for everyone involved in the group.
"Every tie has something in it. You've got Gibraltar, new to the competition; Germany, one of the best teams in the world.
"Then there is the Republic of Ireland and I think the two sets of supporters will turn those games into a cup tie.
"There are some groups you might call mundane but we're definitely in an exciting group. It's a terrific, terrific draw."
He added: "It's going to be very exciting for Gibraltar - I have been there a couple of times on holiday but I have never watched any football there, that's for sure. We will be looking forward to that one too."
Germany are the clear favourites to win the group but their head coach Joachim Low believes the fixtures against Scotland and the Republic will be tough.
Scotland held Germany to a 1-1 draw in Glasgow in a Euro 2004 qualifier in 2003, and lost narrowly in Dortmund 2-1 in the return fixture.
Low said: "We know the Scottish team will be physically strong and it has always been hard for Germany when we have played against them in the past.
"Gordon Strachan was a good tough player and his team will be the same.
"Martin O'Neill has been a top manager for a long time and his team will be a challenge too."
Scotland boss Strachan insisted that qualification was a realistic ambition.
He added: "If we play at the level we can play at we can definitely qualify.
"If we keep all our players fit we'll have a chance and the Republic, Poland and Georgia will be thinking the same.
"It's a hard group and I think any of the teams in our group will be saying this is going to be hard."
O'Neill said that the results between Ireland and Scotland could prove decisive in determining who qualifies for the final tournament in France.
He said: "The localisation has a big bearing on things and Scotland against the Republic of Ireland will be big games there, but it looks like a group where teams might take points off each other.
"That's the utopia really, to get there. It would be amazing if we could do it, but we've got a lot of fighting to do between now and then."
Scotland have the toughest of starts to qualifying, away against Germany on Sunday September 7, and the Republic of Ireland kick off their campaign on the same day away against Georgia.
The final qualifier will see Scotland play away against group minnows Gibraltar, with the Republic away against Poland.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article