Stephanie Zambra: We had the TV wheeled into our classroom to watch Sonia O’Sullivan’s race

The 34-year-old has played football in England, America and Italy, and has made more than 50 appearances for Ireland with the Girls in Green.

Footballer Stephanie Zambra (née Roche) runs coaching academies for boys and girls around the country to develop their football skills. Picture: Brian McEvoy

Her name is synonymous with the 2013 goal that saw her honoured on the global stage as runner-up at the prestigious FIFA Puskás awards for the best goal of the year, but now Shamrock Rover’s striker, Stephanie Zambra (née Roche) is hoping to inspire passion for the beautiful games with a whole new generation of champions.

She and her footballer husband, Dean, run coaching academies for boys and girls around the country to develop their football skills. “I absolutely love it,” says the Dubliner. We are speaking after Stephanie has done a day’s coaching, and you can hear the joy in her voice when she talks about it.