Ireland looked dead and buried in the penalty shootout for a win that would see her country qualify for their first ever Olympic Games.
The two playoffs v Canada in Dublin last November ended in draws and so the match would be decided by a penalties.
Ireland, the World Cup finalists had been hot favourites to go through, and penalties definitely weren’t in the plan according to Upton.
“When it goes to a shoot, you know, it's 50/50. I suppose when we have the best goalkeeper in the world, in our eyes, it might give you a little bit of a psychological edge,” Roisin Upton told www.totumsport.com.
“So, I stepped up third, the pressure is on and I didn’t execute and we were down 3-1.
Canada now had two opportunities to win the shootout, and miraculously, or thanks to the incredible prowess of the world’s best goalkeeper - Ayeisha McFerran - and two successful scores by Beth Barr and Chloe Watkins, it went to sudden death.
Incredibly, and despite missing her penalty, Ireland’s Coach Sean Dancer asked Upton to take the first penalty.
“Typically we come together as group of five and we'd say, who feels good? And it's the girls that have scored that might go again,” continued Upton.
“But when he backed me, I suppose, you know, it's split-second decision and you have to back yourself.
“And if you're given the opportunity to step up and take a shoot-out to take your team to Tokyo.”
Sport is as much about the mind as the body and for Upton it was a moment in time as she became aware of every sound in the stadium in Donnybrook.
“During a shoot-out, it's hard not to be aware, you do hear the crowd and you do hear the ‘Oh's’ and ‘Ah’s’ after each shot and the cheers.
“So it was a real split-second decision. He said it to me and immediately I thought, great, yeah, let's do it.
“Who gets a chance to redeem themselves?
“When you score your first one, you're not guaranteed to score your second one. So when you miss your first one, you're not guaranteed to miss your second one.
“So that, it didn't enter my head. I felt confident and I thought, yeah, let's go for it. And again, I didn’t execute fantastically well.
“I was trying to take it wide of the goalie and, you know, just about stayed on the pitch, and I nearly ran out of at a time, but I snuck it in in the near post.”
And the rest is history.
It transpired following the game that Roisin had fractured her wrist during the match, as the World Cup silver medalist made a long pass.
Suffering from "unbelievable pain" throughout adds only to the magnificence of her heroics.