STEPHANIE ROCHE ADMITS she is somewhat relieved to finally be on the verge of discovering her fate, following the prolonged hype prompted by her Puskas Award nomination.
The Dubliner will be in attendance when the winner of the prize is announced on Monday for the Ballon d’Or ceremony, as she vies for the best goal award along with fellow candidates Robin van Persie and James Rodriguez.
And in an interview with Johnny Lyons on 98FM’s Now That’s What I Call Sport this morning, the Ireland international admitted she was unsure of what to expect.
“Everyone is saying it’s between me and [James] Rodriguez. I’m trying not to think about it too much and to relax and actually enjoy the awards themselves. If I win great, but I’m just going to go with the flow and see what happens.
“I’ve been doing so much for the last few weeks to try and get the goal out there against two superstars of world football [Van Persie and Rodriguez], so I had to do as much as I could to get the goal out there. I’ve had a lot of backing from players etc and I haven’t had a lot of time to think about it.”
Roche also paid tribute to Peamount boss Eileen Gleeson for being instrumental in helping the goal go viral.
“It wasn’t until Eileen edited the clip and put it on Youtube that it went crazy and that’s how it got into the eyes of FIFA and they decided to put it into the top 10 for the Puskas award.”
As for the goal itself, Roche said it didn’t come about by accident, as many long hours spent honing her technique on the training ground ultimately paid off.
“It was a great goal and pure instinct, but it is something that I work on a lot. I practice my technique and I was lucky that it all came together in that little move and it went into the net.”
And while the 25-year-old striker is looking forward to her big day on Monday, she is hopeful that it won’t prove too much of a distraction ahead of her upcoming Ireland duties.
“I’ll miss two days of training [due to the awards ceremony] and I’ll hopefully train with the team on Wednesday and play Norway on Thursday. The trip set us up greatly for the qualifiers last year, so hopefully this year we can go one step further and qualify for the tournament or make the play-offs.
“I’ve done well since I’ve come back into the squad and scored in some crucial games. My main goal is to start for Ireland on regular occasions.”
Moreover, Roche, who was unwilling to discuss doubts surrounding her future with French club Albi, is optimistic that the publicity the goal has attracted can help spur a greater level of interest in women’s football, with a more professional set-up implemented in Ireland in the process.
“Women’s football is on the grow big-time and I’ve been lucky to be a part of it, but there is lot more to happen, footballers want to stay here (to play) and they need that professional element to stay here and hopefully the Women’s National League gets more professional, it gets more funding and more media coverage.”
You can vote for Stephanie’s goal here.
