The result ensured City remain joint bottom of the Women’s Super League having only won one of their opening eight games and with Liverpool to come next, the challenge hardly gets any easier.

But that’s exactly what the Cork native wanted when she swapped Brighton for Bristol during the summer, regular game-time against the best teams and players in Women’s football.

“It’s been tough but nothing that we didn’t expect after promotion last year,” admits the former College Corinthians star.

“I experienced something similar with Brighton for a few years. When you’re battling down there it’s always going to be difficult for the whole season. It’s still very early, we haven’t even played half the season yet.

“We didn’t start the season too well, we’re trying to find our best team, our best formation, best way of playing.

“The last few games we have found that and put in good performances and now it’s about translating that into results.

“Against the top teams, it will always be difficult. It’s not something you measure yourself as it’s just a bonus to get results against them.

“We have showcased ourselves well against the top teams, Arsenal, Man United yesterday (Sunday) and we got results against West Ham and Everton. It’s about building on that now. I know we’ll pick up more points.

“I’m not too worried. Personally I’ve done well. It’s good to have individual performances. But you want that to translate into team results, that’s why you play, to get good performances and results on the board.

“I’ve been playing on the left of a back five and trying to progress that as much as I did under Vera Pauw with Ireland.

“I enjoy Bristol, it’s a great club with a great environment, and they all want to get better. Everyone has been amazing, coaches and players. It’s an environment you want to be in.” But while results with her club haven’t been great in recent times, it’s a completely different story with her country.

Four wins out of four have already secured promotion to League A in the UEFA Nations League for the Girls in Green, but now the target is to make it a clean sweep by securing further victories against Hungary in Tallaght Stadium on Friday and then Northern Ireland at the National Stadium in Belfast on Tuesday.

But while the results suggest Ireland have continued to improve following their debut at the Women’s World Cup last summer and now under the guidance of interim head coach Eileen Gleeson, Connolly admitted their progress can be hard to measure give the standard of the teams they have faced.

“During this campaign, we are not playing teams of that level. So we’ve had a lot more of the ball, a lot more possession, and had a lot more to do with the ball. We haven’t been challenged as much defensively,” she added.

“So we’ve been able to try things out on the pitch probably, attacking wise and not be punished in a way if things don’t work out. We’ve an opportunity to have more of the ball and develop that side of it.

“We’ve had great results, winning the group with two games to go. But it’s hard to tell until we go to League A and start the European qualifiers.

“The team and interim staff have been great, to manage this period and get those results. That was the most important thing, to qualify and now make it six out of six, get some more goals.

“But it’s hard to gauge at the moment, given the opponents we’ve had. It will be tougher next year.”