Blackburn defender Shane Duffy is desperate to win a place in Republic of Ireland's Euro 2016 squad with an impressive display against Netherlands.
Duffy hopes to collect a third senior cap for his country before Martin O'Neill selects his final 23-man squad for the tournament in France.
Should Duffy make the squad it would represent a remarkable turnaround after he suffered a lacerated liver during a practice match in 2010.
Six years on, the experiences of those traumatic few days remain with him, but have given him a perspective on his life and career.
"I appreciate everything after it, to be honest," he said. "It's been six years since it happened and to be back in the fold is obviously a big thing for me and my family.
"But it's not just this. It's being back playing on the pitch and everything in my life, to be honest.
"I do look at everything a bit differently after that, to be honest. It took me a while to get going and I came back a bit early from it, but it's one of those things."
Derry-born Duffy was then an emerging player at Everton, but eventually had to take a step backwards before he could get his career heading in the right direction once again.
Loan spells with Burnley, Scunthorpe and Yeovil handed him the regular football he craved before he got his chance at Ewood Park, securing a permanent move in September 2014, and he has not looked back since.
His development has been such that he was worked his way into O'Neill's sights having been denied a debut under Giovanni Trapattoni by his injury back in 2010.
Duffy finally got his chance in an end-of-season friendly against Costa Rica in Philadelphia in June 2014, but had to wait until the 1-0 friendly victory over Switzerland in March this year for his second appearance.
"I probably wasn't ready four years ago," he added. "I sat there and I was obviously watching the lads, and you want to go out and represent your country if you are in the game.
"It was just, 'I want to try my best to try to get to the next one - and if I can't get to that one, I'll try my best to get to the next one after that'.
"You have got to set it as a target and that's what I did, and hopefully I can be there."