Most of the headlines in the build-up to tonight's NWSL Championship decider between OL Reign and Gotham FC have focused on Megan Rapinoe and Ali Krieger, two stalwarts of the American game who will bow out after the season finale in San Diego (5pm local time, 1am Sunday Irish time).
Rapinoe is looking to crown a brilliant career by leading OL Reign to a first ever title; Krieger - another serial winner who soldiered alongside Rapinoe in an all-conquering USA team for years - is aiming to do the same with Gotham.
There's another story too; a tale of defiance and resilience that's a triumph in itself.
Back in 2015 Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim were playing at Portland Thorns. By the end of 2016, Farrelly was gone after being involved in a serious car crash. It led to a six-year exile from the game.
Shim moved on to Vaxjo DFF in Sweden in 2017, joining Houston Dash a year later when Vera Pauw was at the helm.
Both careers withered. They had effectively retired by the time concealed emotional scars were fully exposed in 2021 when Farrelly and Shim went public with allegations against former Portland Thorns coach Paul Riley.
The subsequent investigations found widespread sexual abuse and misconduct in the NWSL. It changed the landscape completely, and led to a much greater emphasis on player safety in the league.
In March of this year, Farrelly took her first tentative steps back into football with Gotham FC. By July she was playing at the World Cup after then-Ireland boss Pauw handed her a shock first call-up in the springtime and immediately made her a starter.
While Farrelly was in Australia with the Girls in Green, Shim signed a short-term injury replacement contract with Gotham. These two old friends were reunited, and now they're 90 minutes away from capping an arduous, courageous journey together with the biggest club trophy in the US women's game.
"When we first heard that Sinead had been training with the team, we were very excited," says Marge Liguori, a member of Cloud 9, Gotham's official supporters' group.
"When she was previously part of the league, she was known as a do-what-it-takes kind of player but also very technically skilled on the ball. She was that kind of core player on her previous teams, so we were excited at the prospect.
"We didn't think much would come of it because of her time away and the reasons she stepped away from the game. We were just excited she was dipping a toe in. When they announced she had signed for the year, we went crazy. It was incredible."
The enthusiasm of the fan base can be framed in the context of a miserable 2022. Last season Gotham won just four games all year and finished bottom of the league. Their turnaround has been quite something.
Gotham responded to a bad campaign by pumping greater resources into their coaching setup. They recruited excellent Spanish coach Juan Carlos Amoros and built an infrastructure that allowed him to flourish.
Amoros has reshaped Gotham into a fluid, hard-pressing 4-3-3 team with steel and silk. Smart signings like NWSL veteran Lynn Williams, midfielder Yazmeen Ryan and Katie Sengel - who arrived from Liverpool in July - have helped Gotham to steadily improve. Farrelly and Shim bring further quality and depth to a talented squad.
"At the beginning of the season no one expected this to happen," adds Liguori.
"We were last on a total of 13 points last year. The team has put in a lot of investment into coaching. For a long time it was one coach, two assistants. We had a goalkeeper coach and a trainer. This season they hired a new head coach, he's got a whole team of assistants, they've got sports scientists and physical therapists, and they've really put the investment into the coaching and the training.
"And we lucked out with Juan Carlos. He is absolutely incredible."
"These are very accomplished women who were driven away."
Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020.
A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League [NWSL], Sky Blue FC also played in the Women's United Soccer Association [WUSA] and the Women's Professional Soccer [WPS], the two leagues that predated the NWSL.
They've had fleeting success, but have never won an NWSL Championship. The club has completely reset itself in the last two years - and in that respect, Farrelly seems to have found a perfect home.
"For her to make the choice to come to Gotham, to feel safe at Gotham, and to restart her career means a lot to us as fans for the environment the team has created," says Liguori.
"Just being able to say, 'we are a team that people want to be at'.
"For Mana and Sinead to reach this point after having to step away for so many not great reasons, to not only come back to soccer at a high level but to reach this point, that is the biggest win. You couldn't write it better.
"These are very accomplished women who were driven away. Now they're taking their moment back and are coming back on their own terms. They're pushing themselves to reach the highest point."
Farrelly has been on the bench the last few games as she nurses a back issue that saw her miss Ireland's September games against Northern Ireland and Hungary.
But she'll almost certainly be called upon at some stage to steady her team in what's likely to be a tense, tight encounter. Shim is likely to be utilised similarly.
"These are very accomplished women who were driven away," stresses Liguori.
"Now they're taking their moment back and are coming back on their own terms. On Saturday night they could be lifting a trophy and next year we could be lifting a banner.
"It'd be a very full-circle moment in a lot of different ways."
Watch the FAI Cup final, Bohemians v St Patrick's Athletic, on Sunday from 2pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on RTÉ.ie/Sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live radio commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
