After a bizarre start to life with Athlone Town comes the clash of Laurie Ryan's two sporting passions on Sunday.
Ryan will walk out at Tallaght Stadium as Athlone's captain against Shelbourne in the club's first FAI Women's Cup final.
At the same time her beloved Banner, her Ladies Football team in Ennis, will be striving to win their second Munster club title.
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The former Clare Ladies football captain played in all 13 of the Banner's county championship final wins in the last 15 years - and in their previous Munster title success.
Athlone takes precedence for now. The Banner tried to get the Munster final moved to the following weekend but opponents Ballymacarbry of Waterford didn't play ball.
"It was a bit of a disaster," said Ryan. "There's a big chance of winning it.
"The minute we won the Munster semi-final, we sent an email to the Munster Council straight away to get it changed.
"But I've been really lucky the girls have been understanding of me being captain of Athlone. My loyalties are there at the moment.
"We've played Ballymacarbry a good few times and it's fairly evenly matched. I've fingers and everything crossed for them."
If the Banner win then the 29-year-old can return for the All-Ireland semi-final. "Yeah, if they have me back," she laughed.
"They're a great club, I lost my grandmother in the summer and they got me through it, so it's unfortunate that I can't be there.
"They've been so supportive. They've all been texting me, saying, 'Go on now and win it'. It's nice to have that.
"It’s disappointing to miss the big days with the club, but I’m really looking forward to the soccer."
Ryan took a break from playing for Clare for three years after a difficult time with concussion. She returned to the county ranks this year, reaching the All-Ireland semi-finals.
In 2020, she was sounded out by local club Lifford Ladies about returning to play soccer but she was moving to Athlone to take up a Sports Science lecturing post with AIT.
Ryan was keen to play club soccer as an outlet to meet people in her new surroundings and Lifford swiftly organised a training session for her - with Athlone Town.
Having arranged to train with the under-19s, Ryan realised she had no gear. Due to Covid restrictions, she couldn't retrieve it from home.
She ordered boots and it was then that she met her new manager Tommy Hewitt for the first time. He was the postman who delivered the boots to her door.
"He knocked twice because I don't answer my door," laughed Ryan. "He was like, 'you're Laurie Ryan the footballer', and I was thinking, 'Who is this' and replied, 'I might be'.
"He goes, 'Are you going training with Athlone later' and I said yeah and he said, 'I'm the manager'. So I replied, 'Alright, see you later'.
"My boyfriend was splittin' laughing when I went back inside. "I thought, 'Well, I have to go now'."
A tough first session had her questioning whether to go back. It took her a while to get up to speed. "It was a whirlwind," she recalled.
"I feel even until mid season this year I have been learning a lot. It takes a lot to get up to the level, I had not played soccer in five or six years.
"Fitness in football isn’t that different (to GAA), but to be on the ball and learning how to play your position it definitely took me until the middle of this season to become confident and playing the way I want to."
But, having skippered Clare in an All-Ireland final in Croke Park, Ryan's leadership qualities shone through. She has helped to spearhead Athlone's remarkable second placed finish.
"The biggest challenge for us is the occasion," added Ryan. "We just have to go and do what we've been doing.
"We have a very young squad so to be able to go out and perform and not be overawed by the occasion.
"Shelbourne have brilliant players in the likes of Abbie Larkin, Jessie Stapleton and Noelle Murray. Their threat is evident to everyone and they proved that again at the weekend when they beat Wexford.
"We are under no illusion that they will come and go for us. We have been really lose this year which gives us a bit of confidence going into it. We won the last game we played against them.
"That's the boost we needed going into this game, to have that ability to go out and win against the bigger teams - we did that against Wexford and Peamount this year as well.
"That stands to us because they are teams we would not have even competed with last year. "
2022 SSE Airtricity Women's National League Awards Nominees
SSE Airtricity WNL Player of the Year
Emily Corbet (Athlone Town)
Áine O'Gorman (Peamount United)
Ellen Molloy (Wexford Youths)
SSE Airtricity WNL Young Player of the Year
Muireann Devaney (Athlone Town)
Jessie Stapleton (Shelbourne)
Emma Doherty (Sligo Rovers)
SSE Airtricity WNL Manager of the Year
Tommy Hewitt (Athlone Town)
Noel King (Shelbourne)
Steve Feeney (Sligo Rovers)
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