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Published 19:02 25 Jun 2016 BST
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While Hoolahan long march to these European Championships began in the League of Ireland and passed through Livingstone, Blackpool and Norwich (above), Payet too has taken the long route to Lyon.
Returning to Reunion from his adopted home, he began with Excelsior before heading back to France and the Nantes second team before breaking into their senior side and earning a move to the storied Les Verts in Saint-Etienne, just up the road from the city where France and Ireland will do battle.
From there he went north to Lilles, on to Marseille, before being signed by West Ham last summer. He is your typical overnight sensation who is a lifetime in the making.
Speaking on Saturday Deschamps seemed uneasy with his star turn's meteroic rise, but also confident that Payet can handle his new status as a national treasure.
"You give him a status, you take it away, you give it him, bring him down and up," he told the media.
"He's making the difference, he's enjoying it, he's been praised a lot from all quarters and has deserved it as well but he started working at the beginning of the week to try and maintain his performance levels," said the France manager.
"There is occasionally the opposite that happens, you give people certain tags and they don't live up to it. I speak to players a great deal but Dimitri is not a young player. "Sure, he doesn't have huge experience in French setup but he knows what he has gone through in the past, how he's got to this level today and he doesn't want to give that up by any means."Does Martin O'Neill see a similar appreciation of the opportunity before Hoolahan and other members of his squad, which is the oldest in the tournament?
"I'm convinced of it," said the Ireland boss. "The older players here will feel that they want to enjoy it as much as they can, some had experience of four years ago."
Hoolahan was not in Poland in 2012, but he is here now and, like Payet, he is desperate to make his mark.
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