Play the game, not the occasion, says Northern Ireland striker Simone Magill ahead of the crucial Nations League showdown with the Republic of Ireland at Windsor Park on Tuesday evening.
Magill made a successful return to international duty in July after suffering an ACL injury at the Euro 2022 finals in England, scoring twice in Northern Ireland's 4-0 victory over Albania in Tirana on Friday.
That victory gives Tanya Oxtoby's team hope that they can secure promotion to League A via the play-offs if they can maintain their second place position in League B1.
The Republic of Ireland are the group's runaway leaders with five wins out of five and have already secured promotion.
The neighbouring nations met in the first round of Nations League in September, with the Republic winning 3-0 at the Aviva Stadium.
Magill acknowledges the significance of the two Irish teams playing each other and is fired up for the game, but insists she and her team mates must keep their composure.
“You want to win any game that's put in front of you, and that's very much the case for us”, said the 29-year-old from Magherafelt.
“There's a lot of noise around the game, being against our neighbours at Windsor Park and naturally that's going to instill a lot of motivation for the girls and you're going to be riled up for these games.
“I know I am. I've been a Northern Ireland fan all my life and these are the games I play football for, absolutely.
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“But we have to focus on the task in hand and not the occasion, it's fundamental for us not to let an occasion like this get the better of us.
“Women's football has just grown year on year at such a rapid pace, almost overnight for a lot of us.
“We were playing in front of maybe a couple of hundred people then going to a thousand fans and I think that has needed a lot of adjustment for us.
“Now, because we've been exposed to it at more regular intervals you get used to it and you're more comfortable and relaxed.
“We want to finish the year on a positive note then really push on.
“I think we are very aware of where we are right now.
“We've had a lot of change in the last 12 months and I think we're all very aware that there is a lot of transition.
Simone Magill gives @NorthernIreland the lead in Tirana
— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) December 1, 2023
Watch: Women's Nations League ⚽️
Albania 0 -1 Northern Ireland (HT)
Watch the second half live on @BBCSport ⤵️https://t.co/BEaIEqU3G2 pic.twitter.com/08U8aaDEgp
“It's a process, a journey we are on, and I think we need to be really patient with that.
“We're learning so much from each game and each camp that we're in, and we're really trying to push on.
“We've learned so much in every game we've played under Tanya and I think that's the beauty.
“We've had so many international games so close together in this three month period and it's been really good for us to have them in quick succession to take the learnings into the next game.”
The dynamic forward left Northern Ireland to join Everton aged just 18, and spent nine years on Merseyside before switching to Aston Villa last year.
This move coincided with her ACL injury and made a hard road back from injury even tougher.
But Magill says she was able to summon up an inner strength to get her through that she believes comes from her upbringing in Magherafelt.
“I think back to my early days, coming from a hard-working background, it's instilled in me and I think it developed as I've grown, to have a level of resilience, being the underdog, coming from a small country and having that sort of attitude.
“I knew at a very young age what I wanted to go and do. I was very driven as a young kid.
“Packing a bag and moving across the water is quite daunting, I just think I really embraced it and it was the best decision I ever made.
“I had to learn to grow up very quickly because I packed my bags and never came home.
“I'm still in England now. I've gone on such a journey, I've grown so much as a person even in the last twelve months with my ACL injury, I've transformed as a person.
“I had just signed for a brand new club, I hadn't kicked a ball for them and I was injured for the first nine or ten months.
“I had to tap into a strength I didn't know I had to get through it. Thankfully I had the support of my club to help me.
“It's tough to come through something like that, but knowing that I did, knowing I had to dig deeper than I'd ever done before, I take a lot of strength from that and I feel almost reborn in a way.”