After three seasons away from the inter-county scene in ladies football, Donegal forward Yvonne McMonagle is happy to be making up for lost time.
And she knows her decision to come back will prove to be truly worth it if Donegal can manage to land a first-ever Ulster title on Sunday.
After the county had a disappointing Championship campaign in 2011, McMonagle opted to move to Australia.
But she quit Down Under earlier this year to return to Donegal and re-joined the county squad. She quickly found her feet, and her scoring touch, as she helped herself to a staggering haul of 6-05 against Down in her first Championship game back.
And while the only Donegal player ever to have received an All Star insists she enjoyed her time in Australia, she is delighted to be home – and playing football at the highest level once more.
She said: "It was a great experience for me to live in Australia but I am glad to be back in Donegal.
"One of the things I missed when I was away was playing for my club Glenfin and the county too. I played some football in Australia with Cormac McAnallen's club in Sydney but it was not the same as what I was used to.
"The standard at home is generally higher – especially when it comes to inter-county football.
"I felt I would return home to play at some stage and my county team-mates Niamh Hegarty and Aoife McDonnell, who had also moved there, felt they would do the same.
"Last year we were looking at getting back this season and were in contact with the Donegal management. They arranged a special training schedule for us to start over there with the aim of boosting our fitness levels before we returned.
"Obviously it still took a while for everything to start to gel properly when we got back but over the last two months we have been quite pleased with our progress as a side."
While McMonagle was not home in time for the beginning of the season, she still played her part as Donegal qualified for the Division 2 final in the National League.
That game saw them lose out to Armagh but she then turned in that devastating display against Down, before weighing in with some important scores in the provincial semi-final clash with Tyrone.
However McMonagle, who feels inter-county football became more tactical in her time abroad, refuses to get carried away with how well she has been doing.
McMonagle added: "The Down game was just one of those where little things went wrong for us as a team.
"I know they were not as strong as they were last year when they won the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship as they were missing players for different reasons. But really all you can do is try and beat whatever opposition is in front of you and move on to the next game.
"The most important thing is that we go out and win games and if I can contribute to that by getting some scores then great, as part of my role as a forward is to do that.
"But we generally have quite a decent spread of scores through the side and that is terrific because if one player happens to have an off-day then there are others who are bound to do well."
Monaghan stand between Donegal and a breakthrough TG4 Ulster success. The game at Clones will be the first time for the counties to go head-to-head in the Championship since Monaghan came out on top by eight points in an Ulster semi-final two years ago.
But McMonagle believes Monaghan will encounter an improved Donegal outfit this time around.
"I got to see some of Monaghan's semi-final against Armagh this month as it was part of a double-header with our one with Tyrone and I was greatly impressed with them," she declared.
"Monaghan are strong right through their team and it is hard to find any weaknesses with them. While we have had quite an encouraging season so far, the final promises to be our biggest test yet but it is certainly one we are relishing.
"We will go into the game with a plan to try and get the right result and it is fingers crossed it will work out for us.
"There is a chance for us to make some history by winning Ulster for the first time and that is giving us extra motivation."
