From the depths of despair, a global message of hope

Áine McKeever was only 10 at the time but she remembers being in awe of Victoria Mallet.

Mallet wasn’t a superstar or anywhere near it — she had simply used her footballing talents to move from McKeever’s hometown of Derry to go and study on a soccer scholarship in the US.

McKeever was still a few years away from even sitting her first exam but she suddenly knew what she wanted.