Tyler Toland's player-of-the match performance against Northern Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday put a big full stop on the end of an eventful chapter in Irish football.
The Donegal midfielder last played for her country four years ago, in a 2-0 win against Montenegro.
Toland, only 18 at the time, scored the opener that night. She'd just moved to Manchester City from Sion Swifts and was considered one of the country's brightest hopes; a technically gifted, tigerishly determined operator with an old head on young shoulders.
It was a period of purgatory for the Girls in Green, who had just seen Colin Bell leave to take up a role with Huddersfield Town. Tom O'Connor took the reins for the Montenegro match, but he would not lead the team again.
Waiting in the wings was an experienced, highly rated Dutch coach named Vera Pauw. She was in charge for the following month's 3-2 defeat of Ukraine and subsequent 1-1 draw with Greece.
Toland didn't get off the bench in either of those games. Indeed, she would never kick a ball under Pauw.
A spectacular falling out involving Pauw, Toland and Toland's father Maurice led to public claims and counter-claims between both parties.
The upshot was that Tyler Toland would enter a long, cold international exile.
Her club career became nomadic, with stints at Glasgow City, Celtic and Levante in Spain. But a summer move to Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers has gone well, with Toland getting a consistent run of games at a decent level.
Gleeson stressed last week that her return to the squad this month was "purely a football decision", and there's no reason to doubt that.
However it's difficult to ignore the symbolism of a player so out of favour under Pauw coming back into the side and playing a starring role.
"The past is in the past, we're just going to look forward," Toland told a huddle of reporters afterwards.
And that's a mantra that will resonate with the whole squad.
The frenzied reaction to Diane Caldwell's scathing assessement of Pauw's tenure will have made the players aware - if they weren't already - that there's a whole new set of eyeballs on them these days.
Social media platforms drip with hot takes and needless vitriol, and football tends to be a sponge for it. Whether you agreed with Caldwell's comments or not, the worst of the negative backlash was over the top.
These Ireland players are not spoilt millionaires; many of them had to threaten a strike just to get their own tracksuits six years ago.
That context is certainly not lost on Gleeson, who's been steeped in Irish women's football for decades and defines the collective will to drive the game on across the board.
"This is what it is, this is where the girls belong, this is where women's football belongs," she beamed.
"We're really thankful to everybody that came out today.
"This is another step along the legacy, and pushing this game forward.
"We're seeing younger players coming through who want to be on the ball and we want to develop those players more, we want to be Irish footballers that are comfortable on the ball, physically competent and athletically smart.
"That's what we're driving right through our underage clubs, pathways and how we develop those players. It's all integrated. We're getting a glimpse of it now, we'll continue to build on that and keep driving forward. The legacy today is increased participation, increased visibility and that's what we need to keep pushing forward and keep developing those players."
On the pitch Toland gave Ireland control in the parts of the game where they looked a bit lost. Maybe they were affected by the scale of the occasion; or maybe it was simply the positional tweaks Gleeson plumped for. They did improve as the game wore on, albeit the North - made up of mostly part-time players - visibly tired.
Still, it was encouraging to see the diminutive Donegal midfielder conducting play with and without the ball, barking out orders like a veteran.
"Yeah, yeah, big game against Hungary now so we're going to head off and play them in Budapest and hopefully we can bring another three points home," added Toland, seamlessly slipping back into post-match interview mode.
"I think there's always competition during the week so you never know who's going to get the nod. We're pushing each other to be better. That's the environment we're in and I got the nod today."
And then, as she let her guard down ever so slightly, she said: "When you're on the pitch, you're just in the zone. When the 90 minute whistle blows you can start thinking about that. But, look, I'm really happy to get the result and to be back."
"I'm delighted to be back and nothing makes be prouder than playing for my country."
— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) September 23, 2023
Player of the match Tyler Toland speaks to Tony O'Donoghue after Ireland's 3-0 win over Northern Ireland in their UEFA Women's Nations League opener.#IRLWNT #COYGIG pic.twitter.com/a3NYv2yMM6
