Kyra Carusa is nothing if not patient.

Often that is the way of it for strikers, as they stealthily prowl a lone furrow, making endless forays into spaces, or away from them, awaiting that one chance to make the mark.

Timing is everything.

And as Ireland reflected on two highly creditable performances in World Cup tune-ups this past week, the 27-year-old has probably timed her run better than most as Vera Pauw fine-tunes a tactical shift just three months out from their July 20 opener against Australia.

Shedding the need for a lone striker who runs in behind, which prompted Ireland to play too many long and inaccurate balls, consequently inviting consistent defensive pressure, has allowed Carusa’s abilities to come to the fore.

Her hold-up play ensures she is never isolated, it gathers team-mates around her and, altogether, as a watching Niall Quinn averred, this was arguably the most structurally coherent and aesthetically pleasing display of the manager’s reign.

Carusa’s role within the framework is crucial and, given the apparent unsuitability of others, so too now her importance to this squad.

She seems certain to start against Australia, one would feel, as the manager will struggle to find a better option in such a short time

“It’s something we’re comfortable with and it brings more variety to us as a team,” says the player, whose January transfer window move to Championship side London City Lionesses has also aided her cause.

“There are different focuses we can use. We can choose what faces of us we want to show a team, what we want to come out with.

“And for me, it’s a comfortable position to play in. I’m happy to see the rest of our team also be comfortable ... with being uncomfortable really. That’s what these games are: you’re going to have to be uncomfortable, the World Cup will be uncomfortable. You’re going to have to find a way to thrive in that.”

Some of Ireland’s best attacking moments of the tour have stemmed from her influence and Quinn, a hold-up merchant par excellence in another age, was highly appreciative.

“As probably a proper post-up number nine, I love those little moments, to be able to pivot the ball and relieve the pressure for us is massive,” she adds.

“In the first game there were a few moments where I could do that and we had some clinical attacks come out of it. The focus this game was to make sure that happened more often, that doesn’t stop, we continue to grow around that.

“That first 35 minutes you could see that happened so often. I feel like those pivots, those relief-of-pressures, when we needed someone to hold the ball and win a foul, win something, fight for that ball, that was something I could do.

“I’m so happy to know that those qualities and abilities as a player could help us with this new style that we want to play.”

Her career has been a study in biding one’s time; after all, it took several years for her international allegiance to be confirmed.

After a lengthy quest from the FAI, the granddaughter of Laoisman Tony Lucey and Corkonian Beryl only debuted in Montenegro at the beginning of the European Championship qualifiers.

But then there was a yawning gap to the friendly against Belgium a year later as injuries foggered her progress ; of Pauw’s 29 games in charge, she has only played a third of them, and scored just twice.

And she accepts the general criticism of Ireland’s inability to convert chances; after all, there is little point in having a target woman who is unable to regularly hit the target.

“The next step is the clinical aspect of it,” says Carusa, who did have a poacher’s header chalked off in the opening tour game for offside.

“At this level, you’re playing against the US, you’re only going to get so many chances. In Austin, that’s a moment that changes the game.

“Even this game in the first five minutes we were in the final third having very dangerous moments. These games give us a lot of confidence and to score goals you have to be confident and you have to be brave.

“The team feels they have the ability to be brave. That’s the next step, you’ve got to be able to put the ball in the net.”

For now, she is in prime position to do just that. Even if it took her a while to get here.