Aoife Mannion's journey to the Republic of Ireland squad is rooted in a classic tale of two emigrants.
Her Galway-born father met her mother, a Mayo woman, in England after they'd moved across the water to work.
They married and joined an Irish community centre in Birmingham, bedding down in the midlands so that their children were raised to play Gaelic football and take part in Irish dancing competitions.
Mannion, now 27, represented England all the way up to under-23 level. She was on the bench for the seniors four times when Phil Neville was boss in 2019, a whisker away from being a full England international.
But she insists pulling on the green jersey is her ultimate dream.
Having been called into the squad for the first time ahead of next week's friendly against China in Spain, this former classmate of Jack Grealish is happy to embrace her own U-turn.
"Probably for little over the last year it's been my intention and desire to play for Ireland," the Manchester United defender said.
"I started messaging a couple of the girls a year ago and then I did my cruciate. The surgery put a spanner in the works. Then I bumped into Vera [Pauw] last May and told her it was my intention to play for Ireland. The process has kicked on since then and ended up getting my clearance only a week ago.
"In some ways it feels a long time coming but the clearance has just happened. Here we are.
"To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen my parents so proud of anything I’ve done.
"I’ve been around football for a while and involved in few things but if they died tomorrow they’d be happy. That’s how excited how they are."
"What Vera and the players have built and achieve over the past two years is nothing short of historic"
Mannion walks into a tight squad that has already made Irish football history by making it to the World Cup. Pauw does not compromise when it comes to what she expects from her players who have evolved into a seriously dogged and resilient team.
It's a big ask for anyone to break into the 23-player squad for the tournament in Australia and New Zealand this summer but the battle to do just that begins now.
"It’s clear this is a special group," added Mannion.
"Their win last October [against Scotland] that qualified them for the World Cup was really unique. There’s a sense of togetherness here. Vera had her opening meeting yesterday, setting out the intentions for the year and it’s quite clear that she wants to push on. For me to come in from the outside, and seeing it, feels quite special.
"It was funny. At club level we play a small-sided game the day before the match. We decide how that’s split. Sometimes it’s a funny one like old versus young, but also England versus the Rest of the World.
"I must say for the last few months the girls have been saying, 'you want to play for Ireland so be with the Rest of the World’, but I was thinking that I haven’t been accepted yet as Vera hadn’t picked me.
"Not all people knew it was my intention but at the club the girls said ‘yeah, you’re there’. I thought, ‘gosh, I better be involved in a camp because I’ve made it clear to myself and those immediately around me that’s what I want to do'.
"What I took from that was regardless of what happens, whether I get picked, it is my intention to be available in any capacity Vera decides that to be."
Mannion was greeted by a few familiar faces in Marbella when she arrived at Ireland's training base.
She's previously played with Lucy Quinn, Harriet Scott, Megan Campbell and Megan Walsh at club level but there were still some butterflies in the tummy as she prepared to enter a new environment.
Enter Amber Barrett, the Donegal striker who wasted no time in breaking the ice with the newbie.
"I've been so excited to come and throw myself into it, but I've anticipated curiosity," admitted Mannion.
"My roommate is Amber. I got into the room last night, she says, 'Hello, how are you doing?' and then she's like, 'What you doing here? Why are you here? What's your intention? Where has this come from?' and obviously I just answered the same way as I've answered to you.
"Of course people are going to have some level of curiosity, because I've literally just turned up on a camp and I've never been involved before, so why wouldn't people want to know?"
Mannion's challenge is even greater considering she's played little football since returning from her second ACL injury. The centre-half accepts she's still in recovery mode after such a long spell on the sidelines, but for now she is focused on taking her opportunity with Ireland, and proving she's no bandwagon jumper
"My family, my parents and my uncle who played for Mayo [footballer Pat Kelly] were very much in tune about what one cap for England would mean in terms of being locked in for the rest of your career.
"I remember the few camps that I didn't get onto the pitch I didn't think loads about them but my parents thought, 'this actually is not necessarily the worse thing that has happened to you'. I knew if I did get a cap the option and opportunity to play for Ireland would no longer be an option and opportunity.
"It was always in the back of mind that this was something that could happen but really it has only been in the last year that I made this leap of faith internally, that this was something I want to step towards.
"One day you could wake up like Millie and all of a sudden not be able to play."
"We have a girl on the team, Millie Turner, at club level and one day she didn't turn up for training and none of us knew why, it was all a bit hush hush, and it turned out that she just randomly tore an artery in her neck and she didn't know if she was going to play again. Her recovery process ended up being about six months and she literally couldn't do anything, she was on a physical ban, she couldn't train, she needed to let this artery heal.
"I remember thinking, 'why am I sitting around assuming that my career is going to go on for 20 years, why not step towards the thing that is most exciting?'.
"Millie's injury made me think 'what do I actually want? If I could only play for one more year, what do I want that to look like?' Because one day you could wake up like Millie and all of a sudden not be able to play."
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