It's over ten years since Ciara Grant made her Republic of Ireland senior debut against the USA in Portland.
She was a talented 19-year-old then, "just going with the flow", as she puts it. America eased to a 5-0 victory, with Alex Morgan scoring a hat-trick.
They will be expected to triumph again when they face the Irish in a friendly in Austin this Saturday night [live on RTÉ2 from 7pm], but Ireland will surely provide a sterner test for the world number one-ranked side this time around.
Meanwhile Grant is savouring a second coming. She fell out of the game around 2016 as she focused on her medical studies. But the lure of competitive football ultimately proved too strong.
"The feedback I've gotten from coaches both here and in my club is that I am going up and up, and that's just full-time football."
"When I graduated I had to do my internship, that was full-time work in the hospital," said the Donegal woman, now 29.
"I think I pushed myself to my limit in college trying to balance it all and then when I knew I was going to be starting full-time work I was like, 'I just can't…' I’m the kind of person who likes to give my all to everything.
"At that stage it was just going to be too much. But honestly, getting back in working with the FAI at an underage level as the cover team doctor, it sparked a huge interest in myself. In 2019 Trevor Scanlon, one of my old Donegal centre of excellence coaches, I met him in Donegal, we were watching a Donegal game.
"He was like, 'what age are you now?’ I said, I’m 27’. He said ‘most footballers don’t peak till they’re 29 so get back at it’. It was little things like that that sparked a little interest.
"I joined Sion Swifts in the Northern Irish League very much with the idea of, ‘let’s just go play and see how I get on’. I loved it. I took a lecturing post almost to get back to Dublin, to get a job that would allow me to play with Shelbourne and also give my body the best chance to get back to international level."
The move to Shels led to an international recall for the two friendlies against Iceland in June 2021. Six months later, she became the first senior Irish international to play for Rangers since Whitey McDonald in 1938. It was a move that typified Grant's willingness to seize opportunities. She has since moved on to Hearts, with whom she is excelling.
"I'm enjoying playing in Scotland and playing as a full-time professional," she adds.
"The feedback I've gotten from coaches both here and in my club is that I am going up and up, and that's just full-time football. Even transitioning to that in the later stage of my life, it just shows the improvement that you can make throughout your career.
"I'm vice-captain in the Hearts team at the moment and I am loving the role, both on and off the pitch, playing weekly, 90 minutes every week. I'm working as much as I can to help the team in Hearts, but I'm also working on myself as an individual and what I can do to prepare myself best for the World Cup in July."
Pauw can only name 23 players in her squad for Australia and New Zealand but Grant is grounded enough to oput things in perspective - whether she makes the plane or not.
"Speaking to some of my close friends, who are not sporty people at all, is always refreshing because they say, 'look at all the things you've done the last two years’.
"I would never have experienced any of those things if I hadn’t been on those squads, so no matter what happens in July I know I’ve played my part. I’ve had an amazing two years in the run-up to this year’s World Cup. Yes as a player you would be extremely disappointed [not to make it] but there would be that elemental, ‘look what you’ve helped to do’ as well."
"Now it means so much more to me and so much more to the older girls in the team."
Grant will see some familiar faces in Austin. The Ladies Gaelic Football All-Stars are in town on their annual tour, so a catch-up is on the cards [she was in school with Donegal pair Geraldine and Niamh McLaughlin, playing alongside them with on underage county teams].
Older, wiser and never more grateful for her current circumstances, Grant will appreciate the chance to reminisce about old times while savouring the present.
"You were talking about my first cap at 19, I was just going with the flow. Now it means so much more to me and so much more to the older girls in the team," she added.
"I do have to pinch myself on a Monday when I’m going into my recovery session, sitting in a sauna and doing these things when I used to work a 12-hour shift on a Monday. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind but I’m embracing the journey and any opportunities that come up I put myself out there and go for them."
Watch USA v Republic of Ireland on Saturday from 7pm live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app.
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
