Shay Given watched the news every night in disbelief, as Fr John Joe Duffy presided over the funerals of each of the 10 victims of the Creeslough tragedy.
Only a few weeks earlier, in that same church, Fr Duffy christened Given's nephew, Brián Óg.
The former Ireland goalkeeper watched Taoiseach Micheal Martin's address from the small Donegal village and recognised the lodges in the background.
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He even popped into the shop where, as Amber Barrett described them, '10 beautiful souls' perished so suddenly.
It was when asked about Barrett's World Cup play-off winning goal against Scotland last month and the pride he shared, as a fellow Donegal native, that Given opened up about his connection with the tragic town.
“I saw the interviews afterwards and I watched the game, and my sister lives in Creeslough,” he said.
“I was up there about five weeks ago. Our (sister’s) baby boy got christened in the chapel, with that priest.
“Then a couple of weeks later, the funerals and all, he was the same priest. It was hard-hitting in that sense.
“When Amber scored that goal, not just for Donegal, but for the country, for Creeslough, her grandparents from there, it was a mad story.
“It was a bit of light after a dark few weeks and a dark few years coming up.
“My sister, Michelle, would say the little town is broken.”
Given spoke of his visit to the petrol station shop that took the full force of the explosion last month.
“It was just mad. We were actually in that very shop that went up, because it’s a small town,” he said.
“And there has been a lot of talk about it since that. It could have been us.
“The Taoiseach was there and in the backdrop there were the little lodges where we stayed.
“It was just mad, people in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were dealt such a bad fate that day.”
Milford-born striker Barrett marked her historic Hampden Park goal by taking a knee and pointing to the black armband around her sleeve.
An iconic celebration for an iconic goal.
“It was a special finish with Amber scoring that goal, it was a special goal and it was a goal that boys and girls will remember for a long time,” said Given.
“I look back at Alan McLoughlin’s goal against Northern Ireland that time (in 1993), that’s when I was young.
“Goals like that can inspire people. The girls going to Australia next summer, it will be a special time to watch them play and represent the country at a World Cup.”
It was at the launch of RTE’s upcoming coverage of the Qatar World Cup that Given spoke about his connection with Creeslough.
Such mundane matters as his tip for an overall winner or whether he might become the next Eamon Dunphy seem insignificant.
But this year’s World Cup has brought up issues that also transcend football.
Human rights, the deaths of thousands of migrant workers and Qatar’s record on LGBTQ+ issues lead much of the pre-tournament conversations.
Given is a former Newcastle United and Manchester City player - two clubs with Middle Eastern ownership, who have been accused of facilitating ‘sportswashing’.
Would that make it awkward for the 134-time capped goalkeeper to get involved in the non-footballing analysis?
“I don’t feel uncomfortable talking about it,” he replied.
“I just feel that sometimes it’s a bit rich coming from different parts of the world that they’re hammering Qatar or Saudi Arabia because, I don’t want to get into the political stuff too much, there are other countries as well, I live in one of them as well, which has done stuff in the past which is not entirely ethical.
“What’s the saying? People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. Nobody is exempt from things that have happened.
“I suppose what the World Cup has highlighted is more people talking about it and maybe the Qataris have not realised the effect the media will have with the world asking all of these questions and wanting answers, whereas maybe in the past they’d just answered it and that was it, there was no pushback and no further questions.”
Asked if Qatar might regret succeeding in their bid to host the World Cup, given the spotlight that has been shone on the country, he said: “I don’t know if they’ll regret it.
“It will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks.
“There’s talk about protests, I don't know how strong they will be.
“I just mention the football side of things because that’s my compartment, that’s what I’ve done all my life, play football, and now obviously I talk about football.
“I don’t want to get too sidetracked by the political side.
“It’s not me being uncomfortable or brushing it under the carpet. I don’t know all the facts because different reports are saying different numbers of people who have passed away.
“I don’t think there are any facts, that’s the thing, so it’s difficult to comment on.
“And I just want to talk about the football and the excitement of a World Cup.
“We are only a few weeks away from it. It’s going to be an exciting tournament.
“Obviously it would be a lot more exciting if we were there as a nation but that’s not the case.”
RTE WILL broadcast almost 200 hours of World Cup coverage this winter, with live coverage of all 64 games across RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and RTÉ News Channel.
Coverage begins with 17 consecutive days of live games from November 20 to December 6.
For the simultaneous matches in the last round of the Group Stage, both games in each group will be live - one on RTÉ2 and one on the RTÉ News Channel, with all available live on RTÉ Player.
Joanne Cantwell, Clare MacNamara and Peter Collins will present the live coverage alongside panellists Shay Given, Richie Sadlier, Liam Brady, Didi Hamann, Damien Duff, Kevin Doyle and others.
The commentary team will include Darragh Maloney, George Hamilton, Des Curran, Adrian Eames, John Kenny, Ray Houghton, Ronnie Whelan, Stephen Kelly, Kenny Cunningham and Áine O’Gorman.
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