This Sunday in Rome his positivity is set to pay off once more, as the scrum-half prepares to grab another opportunity of Guinness Six Nations action with Ireland. It may be the Dubliner’s seventh Test appearance since his June 2017 debut in Japan, but now Cooney, 28, has cemented his place as Ulster’s first-choice number nine and goal kicker, his presence in an Ireland jersey has become more regular.

Injuries to Kieran Marmion and Luke McGrath have seen him come off the bench in the first two rounds of the championship, but this has always been part of Cooney’s plan, even when he was struggling to start for Connacht in 2016-17.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t,” he said. “I went to see a counsellor/psychologist and I worked on that part of my game, especially when I was injured.

“I had three shoulder surgeries in that bit of time. Looking back now, it was probably one of the best things that happened to me.

“One of my big work-ons when I was younger was that mentality, it was something I really developed. Working on training my brain.

“It is something I did see... and it is probably what I am proudest of in my career that when I was third, fourth choice or whatever I still saw myself being able to get to this position.

“When I look back I’m most proud of that, when I was struggling.

“It was just in terms of starting to understand my brain a bit better and being happy in my environment.

“It helped a lot, that ‘train as if’ mentality really made a big difference, every day when I was going in and holding myself to those standards of an international, when I was nowhere near that. It made a big difference.”

Yet, even if Cooney was a believer in his own abilities, persuading others of his usefulness was another matter. Those three shoulder surgeries came during his first seasons as a professional at his native Leinster, where he battled with McGrath for the selection scraps behind Eoin Reddan and Isaac Boss, making 27 appearances between 2011 and 2015 before seeking a fresh start at Connacht.

Cooney acknowledged those difficult times this week.

“Yeah, it was very important that my family always had faith in me. When times got tough, they were basically the people that got me through it.

I think sometimes you can get selfish when you’re injured and you can just think about yourself. Someone, I can’t remember who, used to have a gag: ‘You’ve had three shoulder surgeries, you know what that’s called? An accountant.’

“It’s easy for you to give up, but I had people who believed in me. Even my best friends saw my ups and downs, so I always thought every day if I was to give up, it would have a knock-on effect to those around me.

“That mentality has stuck with me and, even now, when I got my first cap, my sister stuck up a post online saying ‘we knew this day was going to come’. So, it’s important to reflect on the people who supported you at the time.”

The next objective is to rack up more Test minutes after four each in the closing stages of the England and Scotland games. He has used it to good effect, scoring a maiden Test try in the loss at home to England during his short cameo. Now, Cooney looks set for additional time at Stadio Olimpico with the fit-again Marmion returned to Connacht for much-needed minutes of his own in the PRO14.

“You never know what’s going to happen. I’m going to be prepped like I’m going to play a good bit, but you never know.

“Given an opportunity, just like I did against England, just to come and push that tempo and try to do something, it’s important. Against Scotland, I just ended up defending, whereas against England I ended up attacking. Either way, I just want to have an influence on the game.”

Adding goal-kicking to his repertoire three years ago helped Cooney when Ulster came calling, as they sought to replace Ruan Pienaar in the summer of 2017.

“I think there was pressure, but I don’t think it really fazed me. I saw it as a huge opportunity. I remember hearing on the radio thinking, ‘okay, this is a massive opportunity for me’, because I knew I wanted to get where I needed to be, so when I heard that on the radio, I knew this is where I wanted to go.

“Even when I went up to meet the Ulster management, I got a flat tyre on my drive up to see them and I was like four hours late. I couldn’t believe it… When I went to change it the nut key broke, so I couldn’t even change the tyre, so my best friend [Aenghus Cody] picked me up and drove me all the way to Belfast so I could meet Les [Kiss], so I was four hours late, but I think he was pretty happy that I still got there, because he was like ‘just go home’, but I was like I want to come and meet you, so then the next day they offered me a contract, so I was thinking this worked out well.

“I think if they believed that I had a best friend who drove me up to Belfast after missing work for me… you’re a decent man.”