As the domestic soccer season prepares for a potential return to action later this summer, what has the situation been like for the referees who have been awaiting a decision on how the season will play out?
Michelle O'Neill, who was an assistant referee for the final of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, is one of those keen to get back onto the pitch to officiate fixtures, as she told RTÉ2fm's Game On.
"I'm excited to get started back now to be honest. It's been a long wait," she said.
Initially, O'Neill welcomed the downtime at the start of the lockdown period which allowed her to do some low-intensity training, including walking along the coastline in her native area in Co Wexford.
"Then we had our Zoom call with our FIFA instructor and with our FAI instructors and we then got our training plans in place," she explained.
"So we started doing medium intensity and then high intensity now. So I've been discovering a few interesting training sessions in my back garden."
With rigorous physical training plans to go through, the main difficulty was the lack of pitches available according to O'Neill.
"So you were looking for different resources and different ways and means to do your work-out," she explained.
"So that was the challenge really. But we've been doing core and strength at home with Zoom calls as well.
"I've also had a spinning bike at home and set up a home gym area from the start so I wouldn't have any problems."
