Sinead Farrelly stood at the touchline at Red Bull Arena in March, and surveyed the field. 

It had been seven years since she last played a professional soccer game, and Farrelly — after going public about the traumatic abuse she faced as a player in the National Women’s Soccer League and becoming a catalyst for change in the league — was ready to prove to herself she could make the comeback of a lifetime. 

“I don’t know how I got into the mindset I did, because I just felt free and confident,” Farrelly told The Post in a recent sitdown interview. “I told myself the second I got on the field, I needed to go touch the ball, because If I don’t, I’m going to be in my head.” 

Farrelly subbed in for NJ/NY Gotham FC at the 70th minute to a standing ovation, and within seconds was on the ball. With her first touches, it seemed like the midfielder had never missed a day, let alone nearly a decade.