Greg O’Shea literally had the celebrity world at his feet before he spurned much more lucrative offers in order to continue the pursuit of his dream to become an Olympian.

Every player in the Ireland sevens squad has made sacrifices, but they will all be feeling worthwhile, as the reality of what they achieved in Monaco last weekend begins to sink in that bit more.

For O’Shea, it is vindication for his decision to not totally immerse himself into an altogether different world after he won Love Island, the reality TV dating show, in 2019.

Life works in strange ways and that O’Shea, who has had his injury problems recently, wasn’t included in the initial Ireland squad for the final qualifying event, makes his own journey all the more satisfying.

Although he was a late call-up, by the second game O’Shea had re-established himself in the starting team and played his part in sealing Ireland’s dream ticket to Tokyo.

Reflecting on his sliding doors moment, the Limerick man is in no doubt that he made the right call.

“I could have easily gone down the celebrity route, moved to London, do the red carpet, do the events and make my hundreds of thousands like everyone else does. I was like, ‘No, I am coming home.’

“I have spent so many years with this sevens team. It is never about the money. It is common knowledge you don’t get paid a lot in sevens, it was just about the work we put in.

“I couldn’t sit over in London on my high horse and watch the boys training and maybe getting to the Olympics. I almost wasn’t here.

“I am so glad I made the decision two years ago to come back,” he added. O’Shea may be the most followed Irish rugby player on Instagram, but he is no different to any of his sevens team-mates in that he has also had to endure the feeling of being rejected by his home province.

Although he came through the Munster Academy, O’Shea (right) was unable to make the breakthrough before the former underage Irish sprinter found a new home in sevens.

“We have all had a failure along the way, which bonded us even more,” the 26-year-old said. “When you go through something like that, you’re all in it together.

“We’ve been training so hard for so many years from European Division Cup.

“We finally did it, we finally got Ireland on the (Olympic) stage.”

Terry Kennedy is one of five players who have been there since the start of the Ireland sevens journey in 2015.

The 24-year-old St Mary’s man is the son of former Ireland winger Terry, and in the immediate aftermath of last Sunday’s historic win over France, the father and son shared a phone call away from the madness of it all. “It means a hell of a lot,” Kennedy said.

“There has been big pressure. For the last 15 months or so everyone you are meeting is asking you about preparing for the Olympics and you’re trying to tell them you’re preparing for a qualifier, we are not quite there yet.

“We did put pressure on ourselves and a lot of lads gave up a lot to stick around and really put our best foot forward for the Olympics.”

Jordan Conroy tends to grab most of the headlines with his blistering speed, but Kennedy’s intuitive understanding with the Tullamore flyer is part of what makes this Ireland sevens team so successful.

Kennedy’s outrageous out-the-back pass when on his knees to set up a try for Conroy in Sunday’s win over Samoa will live long in the memory and it was a moment of pure skill that summed up the duo’s deadly nature.

“That was very much off the cuff,” Kennedy smiled. “It was a risky one, I would have been shot if it didn’t come off! I kinda sensed he was there and just threw it hoping it would stick.

“We know when we play well, we can take on anyone. I think we will play with a bit of freedom over there (Tokyo).

“Obviously it’s unbelievable, us getting there, so now the pressure is off a bit. We’ll still put pressure on ourselves to do well. We know if we perform, we can definitely be pushing towards medals.”