Sadhbh Doyle says the new All-Island Cup is more than just a mechanism for filling the summer break - even if her dentistry exams have kept her sidelined in the cross-border competition.
Peamount's hopes of being crowned as the inaugural champions hinge on beating Glentoran at PRL Park tomorrow, after the opening group loss to Shamrock Rovers last weekend.
Only one club from four in each of the four groups will progress to the semi-finals and the Peas can't afford another loss, but Doyle will sit this one out - as she did last week ahead of her big summer exam in Trinity College last Tuesday.
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"It's such a busy time of the year," said the talented midfielder, who has one year left to go in her studies and her practical work in a nine to five capacity at the university's dental hospital.
"The hardest part of the course is managing the patients as well as trying to study. We're in pretty much nine to five and then you have to be your own receptionist as well, so you're booking in your patients and trying to organise everything.
"It's a bit stressful in that sense so it's quite full on at the moment.
"We've been doing it since third year so they really throw you in the deep end but it really gets tricky when you're kind of relying on the general public for your degree - if they don't come in, you don't get the grades.
"But it's very good, it's very hands-on - just at certain times of the year it becomes a lot.
"We do a lot of practical exams throughout the year, but they don't go towards our written exam that has everything on it. It can be a bit overwhelming but it was fine.
"Managing it with football hasn't been an issue. It takes up a lot of spare time, but I don't know what else I'd be doing - it's one of the nicest teams I've been involved in, it just feels so comfortable around each other.
"It's like being around your friends and having fun so I wouldn't consider it a burden. Obviously with my studies it can get tough at certain times of the year but the girls are really understanding.
"There are two doctors on the team, another girl is studying to be a doctor. Everyone has very busy work commitments and everyone understands when you reach your limit and say I can't come up tonight.
"We know people wouldn't say it unless you really needed it."
Doyle finishes up today until the last weekend in August, so after the Glentoran game she will be able to give the Peas her full commitment.
"Like last week, it's a great chance to give everyone on the team a run and that doesn't take away from how good the All-Island Cup is," said the 23-year-old, who was the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division Player of the Month for May.
"We end up playing the same teams all the time in the League and so you know the other teams well.
"This competition brings a different element, playing teams you don't know much about. And it's good for the development of the game in Ireland and Northern Ireland. It brings different challenges."
Nevertheless, the most important thing was beating Rovers in the last round of the League before the summer break and Peamount secured an important victory through Doyle's 83rd minute goal to open up a six point lead over the Hoops and Shelbourne.
"The League is your bread and butter and that's what we're really focusing on this year," she said. "We want to win every competition we're in but we were happy enough to get that win.
"If you said we'd be in this position at the start of the year, we'd have taken it all day. Those three points against Rovers were huge to build a gap before the break.
"The break didn't come at the best of times for us because we're in good form but you just hope we can keep it going when we come back, and the all-Island Cup will keep us ticking over until then."
