Peamount United's Lucy McCartan is hoping for another shot at the Champions League after the Dublin club lost on penalties to Glasgow City.
McCartan has had a busy week in the sporting arena. She plays Gaelic Football for Westmeath and scored 1-3 in the intermediate championship against Longford last weekend.
Then it was on to Scotland, where Women's National League champions Peamount went out on spot-kicks in the first qualifying round after a 0-0 draw.
McCartan says the players were not overawed by the occasion, playing against a seeded team.
"It's nice to go into Europe and know that you are not just going to get blown out of the water. We're well able to contest it. It just shows that the Irish League is just as good as the rest, even if we're not professional yet. It's the same standard really.
"It was the first time any of us have really played in the Champions League except for a few of the older girls. I thought we did ourselves proud. We have to go and focus on home football now and get the last few games over the line and try and get ourselves back here next year. Hopefully, a bit of experience will do us good."
The Republic of Ireland women's team will need to beat Germany to reach the European Championship playoffs. That will be a tall order, but McCartan feels there is hope that the gulf in quality can be closed.
"Looking at the Irish team, they are a great team and they have gotten some great results. There definitely is that gap between the bigger countries. I would say from the match last night that it doesn't seem as big at club level."
Work-life balance
McCartan is currently back in college studying and says a work-life balance is important for the Peamount players.
"I think everyone in the team is working full time, or in college, or in school. It's a good bit of balance to be able to walk away at the end of the match and go back to normal life."
Being an amateur player, there are demands on the body playing Soccer and Gaelic Football, but it's more of a logistical challenge for McCartan.
"I wasn't too bad before the match. I don't know how I'll be able to walk today now after 120 minutes. It was a long game yesterday on astroturf. I'm finding it good now at the moment. Training is probably the hardest, trying to get to every training session. It's good, it's great to be busy."
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