One year on and Chloe Mustaki has no regrets.
Her move into professional football last summer took her from Shelbourne to Bristol City - where she recently secured promotion to the Women’s Super League and a new two-year contract.
Now she stands on the cusp of a historic World Cup appearance.
READ MORE: Ireland international on the verge of Premier League move
Sure, the money isn’t what it was when she combined playing part-time with a career in the financial sector.
But you can’t put a price on this.
Six days away from Vera Pauw’s big squad announcement and Mustaki (27) has another chance to advance her case for a place when Zambia visit Tallaght in tonight’s friendly.
And she plans to grab it with both hands.
“This is my first experience of full-time football. It has been amazing and obviously difficult in its own way,” said Mustaki.
The hardest part was the long-term lay-off in the middle of the Robins’ successful Championship campaign.
“I was injured for the best part of four or five months,” she said, “and when you lose, in brackets, your ‘sole purpose’, it’s hard to deal with that.
“So that has brought its own challenges. You grow and you deal with them and it makes you a bit stronger for the next challenge that comes around.
“But all in all it has been amazing and hugely grateful; that I got that chance with Bristol and heading into the WSL now is a dream come true.”
Did she view her move into full-time football - and away from the security of her day-job - as a risk?
“Not particularly,” Mustaki replied. “I got my undergrad, my Masters and my work experience in. I felt the freedom to walk away at that point.”
Mustaki is no ordinary footballer. She has qualifications in Commerce and French and International Management.
And she has worked in recruitment in the financial services. There’ll be a job there for her again if and when she needs it.
But right now, she is just happy to have the opportunity to play full-time football, something that seemed a million miles away when she left school.
“Coming out of my Leaving Cert ten years ago it wasn’t realistic for me to jump into a full-time setup,” said the former Shelbourne defender.
“The money wasn’t really there and I just wanted stability.
“Now I have no regrets. It was a different situation for me from some of the girls doing their Leaving Cert now and the world is their oyster.
“They have so many opportunities but that just wasn’t on the table for me back then.
“You look at Katie McCabe, she was my year and she is a star now, but only such a small percentage of girls realised that potential.
“There wasn’t room for us all to do it. The timing was just right for me.”
Mustaki is hopeful that she can spend the rest of her playing days as a full-time footballer.
“I do think so,” she said. “It probably depends on how much progress I make in my first few years as a full-time professional.
“Everyone is different. I will just see how the next few years go, how much progress I make.
“Competition is massive now in the women’s game so lets just see what the next two years bring for me. Hopefully I can keep playing for a good while yet.”
Another indicator of the progress of women’s football is the fact that the sold out signs are already up at Tallaght Stadium - both tonight and on July 6 against France.
“It is pretty surreal, I must say. I have been around the international set-up since I was very young, so to see how things have completely blown up since I was a kid is pretty phenomenal.
“I would have never have been able to predict that as a 13, 14-year-old kid.
“It is amazing, surreal, a dream come true, and I am just relishing every moment of being involved in it.”
The excitement is hard to ignore, but so too are the jitters within a group of players desperate to be on the plane to Australia next month.
“It’s not visibly tense. As Vera says, we are a close-knit group and we can support each other during these nerve-wracking times,” said Mustaki.
“Whoever doesn’t get to go, we will be supporting them also.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for the nation and that’s what we are so happy about.”
She added: “It’s been a pretty intense 12 months. 12 months ago I walked away from a full-time job, so a lot has happened.
“For me, personally, whatever happens in the next week or so, I can just be happy and proud with what I have achieved in the past 12 months.
“But it has been fantastic. Having gone through a bit of a difficult time this season I’m just glad to be involved at the moment.
“I’ll fight for my place until the last day, of course, but I need to remember the bigger picture - I was out for quite a while.
“But it has been fantastic. I was working a full-time job up to this time last year, so it has been an amazing whirlwind 12 months.
“And that night in Hampden Park, I’ll never forget that.”
