Over the last year, Tracey Leonard has found herself on the frontlines both on and off the pitch.
The Galway captain helped her side to the semi-finals of the All-Ireland Ladies Football Championship but in a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, Leonard's work as a nurse at University College Hospital Galway has meant she has been involved in the fight to mitigate the effects of the virus.
Speaking to RTÉ's Sunday Sport, Leonard discussed her role and involvement in virus testing of staff.
"It's been busy, a lot busier than last time around. The numbers now more than ever are frightening and there's definitely more pressure," she explained.
"It's going to be hard to see staff I think continue. You can just see staff are getting tired and stressed out."
For Leonard, exercise has been a good way to destress and keep an even keel over the past 12 months as well as involvement at inter-county level as her county made their way to a semi against eventual runners-up Cork.
The build-up to that match was affected by multiple venue changes as the game was switched from Limerick to Dublin's Parnell Park and then eventually at the 11th hour to Croke Park. Galway were on route to the match, having just made a final stop at Kinnegad, when they learned of that latter venue change.
"When you think back to the day and what went on, it kind of was surreal a little bit," said Leonard, who recalled the "mayhem" of the warm-up period as the teams grappled with the sudden logistical changes.
"It was a hard one to swallow and you would just hope what happened just wouldn't happen again because it was demoralising really because semi-finals don't come around every day. Semi-final days are precious.
"When they come around, you'd like to be given the best opportunity to go out and play the game and that just wasn't there that day.
"You think in this era that respect would have been a little bit higher and the whole 20x20 campaign, it just defeat the purpose."
It would be great to see it (2021 season) going ahead...our hospital services are under so much pressure, I just don't think it would be fair right at this point in time
Leonard is hopeful lessons will be learned from that day.
"Hopefully, looking forward a few years, the likes of this will never happen again," she said.
Looking ahead to 2021, work is the priority at the moment but uncertainty remains about how sport will go ahead in the first half of the year.
"It would be great to see it going ahead but I honestly don't know at the minute with our [Covid] numbers being so high and with the way our hospital services are under so much pressure, I just don't think it would be fair right at this point in time," she said.
