New Liverpool contract agreed, injury concerns abated and a dream World Cup appearance coming into focus - it's been a good few weeks for Niamh Fahey.
The Galway centre-half suffered a calf injury last January that effectively ended her season.
She missed the Republic of Ireland's friendly games against China and the USA but is back in the fold now ahead of Thursday's visit of Zambia to Tallaght Stadium, having recently penned a contract extension with the Merseysiders.
Things are looking up again after a bleak winter and spring.
"It was tough, more mentally obviously than physically, just given that it was coming in the run-up to the end of the season," Fahey said.
"It was a calf tear. It was misdiagnosed. Initially I thought it was a grade one, which is only like one to three weeks, but it ended up not healing and then got it rescanned and it was actually a significant grade two.
"That obviously delayed [my progress] and I was probably doing stuff too early that I shouldn't have been doing. It ended up being a much longer injury than first diagnosed, which was a bit mentally frustrating, obviously.
"Once I got the games under me, I felt a lot more confident as well and my body feels good now. Maybe it's one of those where the rest probably came at a good time. Luckily enough, I'm fighting fit now and raring to go."
It helped to have a familiar face beside her on the lonely road to recovery. Leanne Kiernan spent most of the season sidelined with an ankle problem, the pair leaning on each other through some difficult times.
"Me and Leanne were gym buddies there for a while so we were keeping each other motivated," Fahey added.
"Obviously Leanne's had a tough year as well, she was longer than me, but our rehab coincided towards the end so we were able to get on the pitch together as well. I was enjoying chasing her around, up and down giving her plenty of kicks! She's well used to the physical part now after her injury, I'm sure."
Fahey, 35, has been around the Ireland senior setup for 16 years. She's endured more lows than highs in a green shirt, enough disappointments to truly savour the build-up to the team's first appearance at a World Cup finals.
Vera Pauw will name her final 23-player squad for the trip to Australia on 29 June. Fahey looks a certainty to be in that panel but no one is taking anything for granted as D-Day looms, with every training session, and every minute on the pitch, representing precious opportunities to impress.
"Everyone knows what a big moment this is for Irish women's football, so you do feel that pressure," she admitted.
"I was feeling it, hoping that everything would go right for me.
"Luckily it did in the end, and I got back playing minutes with Liverpool, which was the most important thing first of all, and then to come in [to Ireland camp] knowing that you have those minutes is a big boost for me.
"It is getting very real. Every day that goes by, it's getting more real. It's probably this moment, you're thinking about it for a long time. But it's good to finally just be in here now, getting ready, getting prepped.
"Like I said, all you want to do is make sure you're focusing on your tasks that day, not thinking too far ahead in the future, making sure you're doing the right things, you're training, recovering, it's just really day by day and not looking too far in the future."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Zambia on Thursday night from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, or follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app
