The whole of Irish rugby owes Clíodhna Moloney a debt of gratitude as the hooker makes her return from a two and a half year exile from Test rugby against Wales this afternoon.
For Ireland co-captain Sam Monaghan, that debt extends back long before Moloney was sticking her head above the parapet to drive standards in women's rugby.
The pair first connected as team-mates at Wasps. Monaghan had been a late convert to rugby, only picking up the sport when she moved to Brighton for work.
The Meath woman took to the sport quickly, and was recruited to Wasps in 2020, where she linked up with a large Irish contingent, among them Moloney and her fellow co-captain of Ireland Edel McMahon.
"She's probably part of the reason I'm in this set-up. I learned so much from her experience," Monaghan said of her former Wasps, and current Ireland, team-mate.
"I started playing rugby down in Brighton and was a very GAA greenhorn coming into the set-up. I actually didn't know a lot of laws. She took me under her wing.
"There was Ciara Cooney, Claire Molloy, Tricky [McMahon], all of those Irish girls were there. They saw something in me that I probably didn’t see in myself and just directed me in the right way.
"Just in terms of lineout, she’s a great lineout operator, [she] helped me, even though she doesn’t jump or lift, to do extra reps after sessions. Just looked after me and made sure I was going in the right direction.
"A serious ball carrier and a great tackler. An aggressive player and that’s what we need in the squad to build on."
The 30-year-old made her debut during Ireland's ill-fated World Cup qualifying campaign in 2021, just a couple of months before Moloney's now infamous criticism of former women's director Anthony Eddy, following his comments about that World Cup failure.
In the two and a half years since, Monaghan has become one of the most important players in this Irish squad, moving onto the co-captaincy with McMahon following the retirement of Nicola Fryday, and also replacing Fryday as Ireland's main ball-carrying threat.
Against Italy last time out, she carried a whopping 30 times.
When Wasps folded, Monaghan and Moloney went their separate ways, with Monaghan moving to Gloucester-Hartpury, and Moloney moving to Exeter Chiefs.
And Monaghan is excited by what the experienced hooker will bring back to this side.
"Personally I am delighted for Clíodhna," she added.
"She's great to play with, not so great to play against, but she’s brilliant.
"The experience she’ll bring into this squad is class. She’s got this dog-like behaviour which you need on the pitch. Yeah, it’s great to have her in. It’s been a great camp in the last couple of days.
"We were told on Friday as a group, and the squad's reaction was excited. It’s great to have more depth in the squad, because that is what we’ve lacked before, that competitive edge in training.
"Training against and with [her], and that experience. We don’t have an abundance of experience in this team and that can be invaluable. There’s an excited aura amongst the group, which is great, especially going into this week,"
Moloney's return isn't a panacea for Ireland's struggles on the pitch though, with their winless run in the Guinness Women's Six Nations now extending to seven games, following the 27-21 defeat to Italy last time out.
And Monaghan says while that Six Nations win has eluded them in the opening rounds, they feel they are getting closer and closer, as they prepare to face Wales this afternoon.
She said: "I think we are all quite hungry. We were starved of the game last week and it's hard…you play two games and you're on a bit of momentum, and then you have a week off.
"I think we are dying to get back out there and no better place than Cork. We’d two of our home games there last year so we are delighted to get going.
"I thought our attack improved a lot against Italy. Our last execution lets us down, especially in their 22. We'd opportunities to score that we missed.
"But from both of the games I’ve seen massive improvement, even in training last week, the training we put in and built off in the Italy game, we did a lot of maul defence work, and in our attacking zone as well, getting in with some carries and scoring tries."
Ireland haven't beaten Wales in the championship since 2021, before Monaghan made her debut, with a close defeat in 2022 followed by a 31-5 hammering in Cardiff 12 months ago.
And while Ioan Cunningham's side have lost their opening two games in this championship, Monaghan says she knows first hand how good they can be.
"There's 12 Gloucester players in the Welsh squad," she said.
"I know last year they were in four weeks before we were training. They had a warm-up game against South Africa. That’s where the flip side of that is this year. We had more prep going into these games.
"They’re a cohesive side, they play with each other a lot. They’ve got good connections, a bulk of their players are at Bristol and Gloucester. We know what we’re going into.
"We’ve a good few players that play in the Premiership as well, so we know what it is like to play against them and play with them."
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