Still relatively young at 27 to be stepping out of the limelight, the Kerry native had only just turned 22 when she made her debut in a Six Nations victory over Wales in February 2016.

However, this bow followed a couple of unsuccessful trials for the national set-up and a broken leg that prevented her from breaking into the team the year before. Nonetheless, she didn’t let these setbacks affect her and will depart the scenes with an impressive haul of 41 caps.

“I hope young girls and boys going for trials can see that you don’t have to get it at the first go. It was literally my third attempt and I got there. It was amazing for me and I really want young people to see that if you have a dream, go for it and don’t be afraid if you get knocked down,” Griffin remarked yesterday.

“Get yourself back up again, dust yourself off and keep going. That’s something I hope will get across to people and to younger players. Back yourself. If you think you can do it, you more than likely can. Just put your head down and keep going for it.”

Although it is unclear at the moment if she will have any further involvement in the sport, Griffin’s focus for the time being will be on her current job as a primary school teacher and also a long-held ambition to acquire a green cert in agriculture and farming.

Despite the disappointment of failing to reach next year’s World Cup in New Zealand, Griffin has many happy memories to take from her time with Ireland. This includes leading them to a success over the USA in the RDS last Friday — following a build-up that was also completely dominated by off-field issues.

“I was talking to Heather O’Brien. She was there for my first cap and I remember she had to sit beside me on the bus because I was such a nervous wreck on the drive down to the pitch. I think I’ve had so many highlights. The friends I’ve made from the sport, they’re lifelong friends. They’re friends off the pitch.

“Even though the World Cup didn’t go our way, the experience of 2017. Getting to play in a World Cup, it was a childhood dream. It was one of my targets to play in a World Cup and that is something that stands out for me. Obviously being given the honour of captaincy was massive for me in 2018. Something I hadn’t foreseen.

“I also think the performance last week by the group after everything is definitely one of my highlights. In that it just showed the resilience of this group and the connectivity and the closeness of the group. Just seeing the crowd back, they’re just times that really stand out to me at the moment.”

While the international side aren’t performing to the same standard that was being set when she first joined the squad, Griffin believes there has been signs of progress in other areas of women’s rugby. She also recognises there is a lot more that can be done, but remains optimistic the game will continue to grow from the bottom up.

“You can see there is definitely more numbers taking part in the game. Obviously there’s always areas of improvement and I know that is being looked into as well in these different reviews. I’m hoping we’ll keep seeing the grassroots structures being developed and resourced. To see more and more players coming through the system, from the grassroots up.”

In fact, Griffin sees the recent appointment of her former Ireland team-mate Katie Fitzhenry to the recently created position of women’s performance pathway coach within the IRFU as a potentially crucial step forward. Having represented Ireland across the 7s and 15s games, Fitzhenry announced her own retirement from the latter in the aftermath of this year’s revamped Six Nations campaign.

“Katie was a phenomenal player in both codes. Has a very good understanding of the game and she wants to share that knowledge as well. I think it’s going to be an excellent appointment and any players who get to be trained by her or coached by her are very lucky. It will bode well for them going forward in their own development,” Griffin added.