Over the last ten years, we've all become accustomed to watching Katie Taylor pulverise opposition worldwide with her rocket of a right hand, but it can't be forgotten that The Bray Bomber used to be fairly handy with a ball at her feet also.
In 2007, 21-year-old KT had a fair bit on her plate.
Her amateur boxing career on the verge of liftoff, the would-be Olympic gold medallist was still dabbling in a bit of soccer.
We say dabbling, she was doing a bit more than that. She did, in fact, make her senior Irish debut in April of 2006 at home to Switzerland at Richmond Park, in a women's World Cup qualifier, having pulled on the green jersey at U-17 and U-19 levels prior.
A year later, Taylor would score her first ever Irish goal in a European Championship qualifier against Hungary at Tolka Park, and by God, what a strike it was.
Possibly the greatest goal I've seen while involved as coach of the Irish Women's Team
2007 @FAIreland 2 Hungary 1@KatieTaylor with the long distance strike #20x20 #ShowYourStripes #CantSeeCantBe #InternationalWomenDay2019 pic.twitter.com/qtt5QZOUA2— Gerard Dunne (@gdunne16) March 8, 2019
The FAI's Gerard Dunne reminded us all of the thunderbolt on Twitter this morning as International Women's Day is celebrated across the globe and we can't thank him enough.
Taylor would go on to represent the Republic on eleven occasions before boxing commitments curtailed her international soccer career. She made her final appearance from the sub bench in 2009, in a World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan.
The boxing thing kind of worked out though.
By the time she donned the boots for the last time, she was already a two-time lightweight champion of the world, having collected gold medals at the World Championships in both New Delhi in 2006 and Ningbo in 2008. She'd repeat the feat in 2010,2012 and 2014 as well as picking up that magical Olympic gold in London, also in 2012.
Despite not medalling at the 2016 Olympics, Taylor would turn professional later that year, stopping Katrina Kopinska in three rounds at Wembley Arena.
She remains undefeated as a professional, winning all twelve of her bouts, five of which by way of knockout.
She will be back in action later this month as she bids to add the WBO Lightweight belt to the WBA and IBF titles she already holds. The Wicklow woman faces Brazilian Rose Volante on March 15th in Philidelphia.
Katie Taylor. One inspirational Irish woman.
