If there was one small silver lining for Jamie Finn after she suffered a devastating ACL injury 20 months ago, it was the fact she didn't have to look far for advice.
Many of her Republic of Ireland comrades have suffered a similar fate; it's a scourge in women's football, arguably the cruellest injury any player can suffer.
For Finn, it happened during training in Florence ahead of a friendly against Italy. She's had to wait so long for another chance to pull on the green jersey.
Now playing at Sunderland in WSL2, the versatile Swords midfielder is back in the squad ahead of the Nations League promotion/relegation play-off against Belgium.
"A lot of players reach out to you," Finn said at the FAI's HQ in Abbotstown.
"I remember Chloe (Mustaki) reaching out and obviously Jess Ziu as well. And you kind of lean on them a bit. Everyone's experience is different. Everyone's rehab is different, but you definitely do kind of lean on those players a little bit more.
"I thought I was resilient before my ACL but this is a new level of resilience."
"Anyone who goes through an ACL injury knows it's quite difficult, I think probably more so mentally than physically.
"Don't get me wrong, physically, it was torture. But mentally, it's quite hard to keep focus on the job because you know you're going to be out for a long period of time. But yeah, I got through it.
"I thought I was resilient before my ACL but this is a new level of resilience. You need to just keep the end goal in sight, and the end goal for me was back playing football, regular football, and the end goal for me was to be back in this camp. That was always the last piece of the puzzle, but for me, probably the biggest piece."
Those lonely hours of rehab are tough; getting back on the pitch for the first time is tougher again.
Finn admits she needed to break through the psychological barrier of emerging unscathed from a big crunching tackle.
"I said to one of the girls, ‘the biggest thing I missed was tackling someone during my whole ACL rehab’," she recalled.
"The first game I got that 90 minutes competitively was with Sunderland. I didn't really think about it too much because like I said previous, if you do that, you kind of overthink things and stuff. But no, I was delighted to get back into it and get that first tackle out of the way.
"Honestly, I feel the fittest and strongest I've ever felt. Hopefully that shows in my game."
The injury setback also helped Finn to put football into perspective. Back in June, she popped the question to long-term partner Sarah. "When you go through a big injury, you kind of look at stuff outside of football as well. You have a greater appreciation for everything in life, I think," Finn reflected.
Now 27, she also has the experience and seniority to guide the likes of Tara O'Hanlon, who's endured a horrendous run of injury luck since joining Manchester City from Peamount United in January 2024.
Currently on loan at Sunderland, O'Hanlon made her first start in 862 days on Sunday against Sheffield United in the League Cup.
"Tara's a great girl," said Finn. "I think she's eager to learn, eager to be coached, which is great. Like you said, she played her first minutes in a long time.
"I thought she done great as well. I think any injury is tough, but to be out for that amount of time is really tough. I just gave her a text after the game. I said, 'listen, I thought you were great and I think you need to just push on now and obviously lean on anyone you can to kind of stay in the team and get minutes under your belt’.
"I think she's eager and willing to do that."
Watch Republic of Ireland v Belgium in the UEFA Women's Nations League play-offs on Friday from 6.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on the RTÉ News App and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to live radio commentary on an extended Game On with 2fm.
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