AS birthday venues go, a football fanatic couldn't hope for much better than Wembley Stadium. Barring injury or illness, Simone Magill will be there when she turns 26 this coming Sunday, hoping to win the Women's FA Cup for Everton.
First, though, her focus is on Northern Ireland's attempts to qualify for Uefa Women's Euro 2021 (although it's been pushed back to the summer of 2022 in England).
Today, she and her colleagues are away to Belarus, knowing they must win their two matches with the eastern Europeans and the final group game at home to the Faroe Islands and hope Wales fail to beat both the Belarussians and Norway in their remaining two games.
That combination of results would send Kenny Shiels's side into a play-off for a first ever tournament place, a prospect which thrills the (still) 25-year-old Magill:
"We play football because we love it and we love playing for our country - it's such an honour. To qualify for a major tournament, for so many of the girls – myself included – that's the dream, the ultimate dream, it always has been.
"Having Kenny come in and believe in that with us, the targets were set straightaway… that's why you play, to try to qualify for these major tournaments and we're getting closer every year."
The group situation probably does have NI facing three 'must-win' matches but Magill is content with that scenario: "All we can do is deal with what's within our control, we know we need to win these last three games. Every game is going to be like a cup final for us. We need Norway to beat Wales, essentially." That game also takes place today, at Rodney Parade in Newport.
Having won 6-0 away to the Faroes last month, with Magill netting twice, she is confident but realistic ahead of facing Belarus:
"We're going into the game very much on the front foot. We're aiming to win the game, get the three points, but we know it won't be easy. They're a good side, they try to play. We know they're going to put up a fight and we need to be ready for that."
Indeed the Belarussians only lost 1-0 to a late Welsh goal, and took the lead when Norway visited, albeit ended up losing that 7-1.
Both those matches were in the Borisov Stadium in Barysaw, where the NI men won 1-0 in the summer of 2019, but this game is set for the Dinamo Stadium in the capital Minsk.
Belarus has not locked down regarding Covid-19 and there is ongoing civil unrest with protests against President Alexander Lukashenko, but Magill believes the IFA's arrangements will protect her and her squad mates:
"We travelled last month to the Faroe Islands and it was pretty straightforward: we just stayed in our own bubble, got our own flight out there. We did most of our training in Northern Ireland.
"It's just a case of flying out to Belarus, playing the game, and then coming home, hopefully with the three points. The IFA have been great in dealing with the situation. We've all had to adapt to make this work so we can get to Belarus and play. It's gone really well so far, fingers crossed we don't get any bumps in the road."
Football-wise, the victory in the Faroes meant a lot: "It was Kenny's first win as well. We had our toughest four wins at the start of the campaign, playing Norway and Wales back-to-back twice, and we did really well against Wales.
"Everyone had written us off but we actually should have got more than just a point in both, home and away. It was nice to go the Faroes and put all the hard work that Kenny's been putting in into practice out on the pitch.
"Kenny's been a breath of fresh air for us, implementing a completely new style of play from what we'd been used to. We've all massively bought into it right from the get-go.
"We had a baptism of fire against Norway, but it's been very positive and we're starting to reap the rewards now…Hopefully we can show more signs of that.
"We had a few different scorers as well, which is good, and it's always a bonus to get on the scoresheet.
"Hopefully we can build on that because it was only a month ago. Having games like that can bring momentum – in normal times they're a bit more spread out, a couple of months between games. We're together more frequently than we would have been."
Then it's on to Wembley. A girlhood Manchester United fan, who spent hours trying to 'bend it like Beckham', she'll be doubly delighted to defeat favourites Manchester City.
"Aw, it's huge – the FA Cup is one of the biggest competitions you can play in, and for the final to be set at Wembley, that's the dream when you're a little kid playing football. You never imagine that you're going to play somewhere as amazing as Wembley.
"For all of us it'll be a really, really massive occasion. It would just make the day all the more incredible if we could do the business and get to lift the trophy. Obviously to have it fall on my birthday as well, it would be the best birthday in the world!"
The only downside for the Magherafelt woman is the lack of fans: "It was never really mentioned that there'd be any possibility of anyone coming in to watch. It's such a shame because you want family and close friends to share these moments with you.
"But it'll still be a great stage and occasion – we've just got to fully focus on that and try to do the business for them. They'll obviously be able to watch on TV but it would be that wee bit more special if they were allowed to be there with us."
* See Simone Magill speaking about her experiences in sport at: http://www.gamechangersni.com/
