Republic of Ireland midfielder Sinead Farrelly admits she's still trying to process the enormity of the World Cup as the clock ticks down to the big kick-off in Sydney.
Farrelly earned her second cap - and first on Irish soil - against France on Thursday night.
She came into the fold in April impressing in the 2-0 defeat to the USA. Barring injury, she’s guaranteed to start in the group opener against Australia.
And yet the 33-year-old can’t quite take it all in, with that massive clash with the Aussies set to take place at a sold-out Accor Stadium, which holds over 80,000 fans.
"No!" she replied when asked if it was all starting to feel real. "When it is over I'll be like, 'oh that happened'. It is hard not to feel that it is real when you step out for that first game and there's 82,000 people there. It still feels a little bit surreal. It almost feels a bit of a blur.
"It is crazy. 30,000 is the most I've maybe played in front of before. That is a pretty big difference. When you are on the field you’re kind of present with what is going on but who knows what it is going to feel like?"
Ireland’s farewell game against the French at Tallaght Stadium didn’t exactly go to plan, the excellent visitors sweeping to a 3-0 win.
Still, there were positive to take from a good first half, during which Ireland more than matched France before they were sucker-punched by two goals in stoppage time.
"We aren't as happy with the result as we'd like to be obviously but I think that we need to learn from our mistakes. There was a lot of positives we can take out of it," she added.
"I think the first 42 minutes or whatever it was, we really held them… and we had a goal [from Kyra Carusa] that I heard was onside actually. We did so well defensively and we also created a lot offensively. France are an amazing team so I think the fact that we did that at all will give us confidence going forward.
"There is a lot that we can learn from that and we are going to do better in the next game. We can't switch off.
"Maybe a lot of people don't think Ireland - they think of us more as a defensive team but I think we showed we can do amazing things offensively and it is just capitalising on that. I think the first 42 minutes we stuck to the game plan really well."
The result aside, it was special evening for Farrelly. Born in Pennsylvania, her roots go back to Virginia, Co Cavan, with her family out in force in Tallaght on Thursday.
"It was awesome," she said. "I was really nervous about it and I was excited. The support from the entire country and the fans is amazing and I think this is just one example of that. Seeing all the flags waving, you can feel the passion and the heart, hear the cheers from everyone. It has just been awesome.
"My family was there. My sister has just moved to Delvin [in Co Westmeath] so my parents were here to help them move so I got to hang out with them in their house in Delvin. It was very chilled - nice and relaxing.
"That wasn't planned at all as I didn't know if I was going to be here or not. It coincidently worked out. I saw my aunts and uncles on Saturday so that was really nice and they came to the game.
"I think I was ok. I can tell when I'm playing a bit scared and I definitely felt that… being nervous and rushing a few passes when I gave the ball away when I could have kept the ball.
"One of my strengths is being calm on the ball and keeping the ball for us. There are a few things I wish I did differently but I'm going to learn from them. For me I just have to be positive as I will spiral.
"I trust that once I'm playing I'll be focused on getting the job done and I'll block it out. The second I start over thinking it is just a disaster. I'm just hoping for the best."
