The woman who came back from three career-threatening injuries to score the most important penalty in Welsh history

Hannah is now looking forward to the summer of a lifetime in Switzerland

Going into the game, the whole squad knew it was a must-win match. Evenly pegged after the home tie, when Wales' women went to Dublin, everything was on the line.

They were either going to be history-makers, or not.

As the clock hit 44 minutes, Ireland's Anna Patten's arm touched Lily Woodham's free-kick inside the box, the Welsh players protested in unison.

And then Hannah Cain realised she was the one who was on penalty duty. She would have to go forward, put the ball on the spot, watched on by her team and 25,000 fans, most of whom were willing her to miss.

The panic set in as she realised the gravity of what she was about to do.

She turned to team-mates Angharad James-Turner and Josie Green and said: "What am I going to do?"

The rest, as they say, is history. That penalty broke the deadlock and rattled Ireland, Wales won 2-1 and on July 5 they will play their first-ever game at a major tournament against the Netherlands. Sign up to the Don't Take Me Home newsletter here.

Meeting the media ahead of Wales' clash with Denmark, Hannah had just come back from seeing her Rhondda-born grandad, Bob, who now lives just 10 minutes from The Vale Resort where the team camp is taking place.

Having spent every Christmas and summer holiday visiting him from her birthplace in Doncaster, he is the reason she feels so strongly about her Welsh connection - and her reason for playing for Wales.

Hannah, now 26, got into football after her mum tried to take her to ballet but Hannah stood in the corner doing her own thing. She made her feelings clear and told her she just wanted to play football, like her brother. She played with boys until she joined the girls' centre of excellence in Sheffield, before moving to Sheffield FC, Everton and finally Leicester.

She went on to play for both the Wales and England youth sides but after a call from Gemma Grainger in 2021 and a trip to watch Wales with her grandad, Hannah was fully convinced. In the early stages of the game, granddad Bob turned to her and told her she had to join Wales. To sweeten the deal, Wales beat Kazakhstan 6-0 at home.

"I came down with my grandad to watch one game and I think the girls won 6-0," she said. "I phoned Gemma the next day and I was like, 'Get me in, I want to play, I want to help, I want to do whatever I can, and hopefully we can have great memories'.

"We have so far. My grandad loved it. I love playing for my country and I love playing for my grandad and all my family."

Her first game was in October 2021, when Wales played Estonia in Cardiff. However, following the euphoria of her international debut Hannah tore her ACL. An anterior cruciate ligament is both incredibly painful and has a long recovery time.

She was out for an agonising 14 months, but just one year later as Wales were gearing up to face Germany, she was back training and as she played a reverse pass she felt her other ACL go. Checks revealed it was worse - it wasn't just her ACL, she had torn her meniscus - part of her knee - and fractured her femur as well.

"It was horrendous," she added. "I mean when I first actually did it and I was on the floor, I remember saying to the manager at the time, 'I can't believe I've done it again'. I'm going to miss so much because I think we were about to go for the Euro qualifiers at that point and I'd have missed obviously, the qualifying campaign up until the play-offs."

She screamed, partly through pain, partly through devastation, as she knew she would miss out on so much.

"I was just absolutely gutted and I think after the initial pain, I was probably screaming at the fact I knew I was missing so much," she continued. "Once you go through it once, people always say that it's easier the second time, but I can guarantee you it's not. That is a straight up lie.

"When I did the second one I actually refused to leave camp because I was so upset. I said to everybody, 'I don't want to go, I'm in my little bubble here, I feel safe'. I didn't want to accept it at that moment.

"When you're here everybody makes you feel so good and that you're supported. I obviously get that back at the club, but not to the same extent as here. Clubs change, but your country won't ever change.

"They've got your best interests at heart, everybody loves you here."

It took 10 months for her to fully recover, she returned to play for Wales for the play-off game in extra time against Slovakia in Cardiff on October 29, 2024, having been out since December 2023.

After that second-leg Slovakia tie, there were two more games. The aim was simple - qualify for the women's team's first major international tournament. Personally, Hannah knew she wanted to win her shirt back and have an impact on the game.

In the 46th minute on that cold night at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, the girls' arms were aloft and the VAR check showed a handball.

Then Hannah remembered she was on penalty duty.

"I had a moment of panic and I thought, 'Right, OK, this is probably the biggest moment in Welsh history, it's got to go in'. I actually remember I went up to Haz [Angharad James-Turner] and Josie [Green]. Josie is into meditation and yoga and we played together at Leicester.

"I went up to both of them and I said 'Oh my gosh, I'm taking this and I'm a little bit nervous, what am I going to do?' Haz said 'just breathe, it's fine, it's totally fine' and Josie was doing the deep breaths and stuff."

With no indication of the nerves she was feeling, she calmly slotted the low ball into the back of the net.

"They were both like 'see, we knew you'd do it'," she said.

Hannah reflected on how that very moment encapsulates why this group of women are like a family to her. She felt able to tell them, with the weight of a nation on her, that she needed help - and they delivered.

"I think knowing that they have that belief and confidence in you probably settles more nerves than you could do on your own," she said. "Fortunately with this group of girls I can be honest but they still know that I'm capable of taking the penalty."

Having been through the two ACL injuries, and suffering what was initially deemed to be a career-ending foot injury when she was 19, the feeling of scoring such a pivotal penalty was, she said "unbelievable" - with waves of relief.

"It was an unbelievable feeling and I think the relief that people know that I'm here, this is my role and I’m capable of doing it. I'm back'."

It's fair to say Hannah Cain delivered when it mattered most and etched her name in Welsh sporting history for ever.

• Wales play Denmark in the Nations League tonight at Cardiff City Stadium before travelling to Sweden next week.