But later today the Galway girl will find what she was looking for.
The Irish squad touch down in Cork for what will be, at last, their final assignment of a never-ending season against France on Tuesday.
Today’s News in 90 seconds – Saturday, July 13
There, Russell will be reunited with baby Rosie, the one-year-old girl to whom she dedicated Ireland’s first goal of 2024, at the very last moment of their seventh match of the hitherto barren calendar year.
“I can’t f*****g wait!” the Galway girl says, still naturally high on adrenaline deep into a Norwich night which had ended, so dramatically, and upon such a curious note.
An England team winning but wearing frustrated faces betraying loss, while their utterly cowed opponents were relatively raucous despite defeat.
So many contrasting emotions.
And so many feelings coursing through the veins of the Ireland squad’s only mother.
“Absolutely,” she puffs. “I never thought I’d see the day.
“I’m proud that I’m probably one of the first people to do it in the Ireland team and hopefully there’ll be many other mums that can do it too in the future.
“I didn’t bring her over, I thought it might be a bit too much for her. She’s coming back into camp down in Cork ahead of the last match against France.
“My family didn’t travel but they were having a little watch party at home in Moycullen in Galway.
“It was great to get the goal, but obviously, you want to win. I’d say they were all jumping and roaring and screaming!”
They were still jumping and screaming a few hours later in Cork native Aidan Mahon’s Pogue Mahon bar a few streets away.
Olivia O’Toole, who knows a thing or two about scoring goals, led ongoing fan celebrations which seemed, perhaps like the last minute strike itself, something of a relieving consolation after a harrowing week for so many.
O’Toole, a cousin of adopted local hero and former neighbour, Wes Hoolahan, almost seemed to characterise the feelings of her entire sport.
After unloading so much traumatic baggage of late, she was not alone in deserving the moment to smile.
For Russell, the grin seemed impossible to erase.
“To be honest, I never thought it would happen again,” says the player whose 60th and last cap had arrived four years earlier. Emigration to Australia and full-time work seemed to end that period of her life; ironically, becoming a mother has seemed to kickstart it once more.
“Obviously I never officially retired, I just continued to play with Galway, just enjoying my football, enjoying being a mum and enjoying my life. I dunno, everything happens for a reason.
“Motherhood changed my whole perspective. She’s my number one. I’m just kind of enjoying football now, obviously I’m older and I have a lot more experience.
“You’re kind of playing with no weight on your shoulders. It’s like you’re a teenager again, it’s funny.
“When I got called in, I was shook. I was just so happy and then to make the matchday squad, I was absolutely buzzing.
“To get the call at half time to come on, I couldn’t believe it. I said to Eileen coming on that I was going to do it for Rosie. To get that goal, I was so emotional, and I just can’t wait to see her tomorrow.”
Although guilty of one of the night’s several sporting crimes – multiple offsides – Russell’s energy and endeavour was in sharp contrast to the lacklustre Emily Murphy.
Her manager Eileen Gleeson referenced that fitness and it shouldn’t have been a surprise; Russell ran a 3.48 New York Marathon just five months after giving birth.
Hell, she was doing CrossFit until her due date last June.
“I’m still doing CrossFit now”, she laughs. “Maybe it’s that, I dunno. Obviously with Galway United as well, the training is really, really good.
“It’s high intensity and it’s credit to Galway United and the team. I think there’s more players in the League of Ireland that can definitely play at this standard, so hopefully they’ll be in.
“Obviously it’s faster, it’s more intense but I didn’t feel out of place, to be honest. I felt that I was able to get in behind the two centre backs and apply pressure on them and I felt like when we did apply pressure, they were making mistakes. I think I was okay.
“In the first half we probably gave them a little bit too much respect, we could have pressed them a bit higher.
“It was disappointing to give the goal away so early on. I think towards the end of the second half we got a bit more into it.
“In the second half, we applied a bit more pressure higher up, gave it a bit more and obviously at the end we got the goal, which is always nice, but I suppose we lost so it’s still disappointing
“I’ve been playing up front with Galway and probably my biggest strength is pressing players and putting them under pressure. I suppose I can run all day so it’s just doing that continuously.
“I felt like we were standing off them in the first half so that was kind of my goal from Eileen and the coaching staff, for us to just put pressure on them and go in behind – that’s what I did.”
It was a decent night to be a Moycullen Russell; brother John’s Sligo Rovers enjoyed capital gains in Dalymount Park to complete a notable family double.
As for these women, the palpable energy acquired by the squad with the arrival of their “camp baby”, particularly in the circumstances of such a fraught week, are incalculable by video analysts or stats gurus.
Sometimes there is no why.
And in a week when it seemed as if the history of women being subjugated by men was being rewritten witch such devastating consequences, Russell was acutely aware of her personal debt to one special man.
Her husband, Kieran.
“He’s going to come down tomorrow. I’d be lost without him to be honest. He’s been amazing.
“He was in Castleknock for a couple of days as well before we flew to England, minding her when I was at training and whatnot.
“The girls love Rosie, and Kieran as well. We’re looking forward to having them back in with the team.”
Russell seems primed to ensure she remains a vital part of it too.
