'It's the Best Goal': Stephanie Roche on Her Viral Wonder-Strike and the Puskas Award

Robin van Persie and James Rodriguez both notched spectacular efforts during last year's World Cup. Under the Brazilian sun, in front of tens of thousands of people and with the whole world watching, two of the game's best players brought elated tears to the eyes of their countrymen with a deft nod of the head and a snap of the left foot, respectively.

About eight months before that, in the Irish coastal county of Wexford, Stephanie Roche collected a float pass with her right foot, taking the ball away from her marker. As the same defender tried to close her down again, Roche flicked the ball over her right shoulder and spun around to catch it perfectly with her left foot.

On that cold October morning, celebratory cries rang out from the crowd of less than 100 people as the ball flew past the Wexford Youths' goalkeeper. The Peamount United forward was buried by her teammates in celebration of a virtuoso strike that put her side on their way to three points in the Women's National League.

"Believe it or not, it was my first goal of the season, so I was just happy to score," explains the Irish international. "I had done well the year before, I was top goal scorer in the league, so I think that was our fifth or sixth game in and I hadn't scored. I was a little bit anxious to get on the score sheet more than anything.

So much so that Roche didn't realize how special the goal was until Wexford's manager, John Flood, showed her the footage. Still, she maintains she "never thought it would get to where it is now with so many people having seen it."

Peamount United's manager, Eileen Gleeson, took the footage from Flood and uploaded it to YouTube. After putting the wonder-strike on to the club's social media pages, it wasn't long before the clip was being shared out across the Emerald Isle.

Roche remembers "one of the football websites shared it out, I think it was ExtraTime.ie, and it just kind of went from there. Everyone else picked up on it and the next thing I know people like Matt Le Tissier start talking about it. That obviously got a lot more public interest in it."

Le Tissier was the first of many soccer stars to wax lyrical on Roche's thunderous, must-see strike. The shot, departing from Roche's left boot on a journey around the world, was justly honored in mid-November when FIFA included it in their short list of 10 nominees for the Puskas Award, the winner of which is deemed to have scored "World Football's Goal of the Year."

Such was the fanfare surrounding the goal that, in early December, FIFA announced Roche's goal had made it into the final selection of three goals for the prestigious award, alongside Van Persie and Rodriguez's offering from the World Cup.

The goal has been heralded around the world with even One Direction's Niall Horan urging his 21 million Twitter followers to vote for Roche in FIFA's online poll. Currently playing in France for ASPTT Albi, Roche's most memorable compliment came from another international in France, this one with European giants Paris St-Germain.

"David Luiz sent me a video after I did an interview with a Brazilian TV show.

"His message was in Portuguese but I got the translation, it was 'your goal is beautiful and I hope it wins', so it was really nice to see that. There were so many other people as well so I don't want to just name one though," she says laughing.

The Irish forward credits social media for playing a vital role in the goal's virality, which was needed considering that her challengers to the prize, named after legendary Hungarian striker Ferenc Puskas, converted their strikes on football's biggest stage.

"I watched the other two goals as they happened in the World Cup finals, both Van Persie's and Rodriguez's, to see my goal beside theirs is absolutely incredible. It's a bit surreal but I'm so happy that my goal is being recognized at such a high level."

Despite the whirlwind of emotions, there is no doubt in Roche's mind who the winner should be.

"I think I should win because it's the best goal."

Beyond that, Roche wants the reach of her goal to have a lasting effect on how people view the women's game.

"I've been saying it in every interview I've done, women's football deserves a lot more coverage than it gets and I hope that this opens a lot of peoples' eyes.

"It only takes a person to go and see one game for them to realize that talent that exists in the women's game and this goal has helped people to see that. It needs more publicity and a bigger following and even though I'm getting a lot of exposure now, I want people to see that I'm not just about one goal.

Finally, Roche spoke about what it will be like for her to be recognized alongside the best soccer players in the world at the FIFA Ballon d'Or award ceremony tonight in Zurich.

"To be at the ceremony will be an amazing experience but I don't usually let things like this faze me. I'm going to be surrounded by players that I admire and respect and it will be great to meet them but I'm going to be there as a footballer.

"If I see any of the players in the hotel before I go to the awards I'll look for a few pictures, but I won't be doing anything like that before the awards," she says.

"Hopefully, I can come home with a Puskas award."