A quarter of the way into their semi-final away to Liverpool three weeks ago and they were 2-0 down.
“I was rubbish,” she is able to recognise with a half a laugh, reliving those 20 minutes or so at St Helens three weeks ago.
Not rubbish. But the final passes and what might have been telling balls or crosses were not coming off for her or any of the talent around here.
And Liverpool sent them into the kind of hole which, as she recognises now, they did not used to get out of.
They found a way this time and won 3-2 to set up Sunday’s Adobe WFA Cup final with Manchester City, who produced a similar comeback in their own semi at Chelsea later that afternoon.
It is to Albion’s credit that, in her second season at the club, they have learned how to win games without Kirby. A bit like the men without Lewis Dunk, that did not used to happen.
But her talent, temperament and experience of five previous WFA Cup final wins, as well as Euros glory with England as the nation watched and expected, will be massive on this occasion.
She has experienced colleagues such as ex-Chelsea midfielder Jelena Cankovic, Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie and Asian Cup and Olympics internationals Kiko Seike and Moeka Minami.
But Kirby stands alone in terms of knowing so much about the big games.
Speaking to The Argus on the night she was crowned Albion player of the season, she said: “It’s going to be an emotional day.
“It's going to be a lot of emotions around the game, a lot of emotions on how to deal with your nerves because it's completely normal to feel that way.
“I think sometimes we get caught up saying, ‘Oh, I'm not nervous, I'm not nervous’.
“But it's all part of the game and obviously it means something when you get nervous.
“So I think it's just managing the occasion, managing the moments.
“It is going to be a really, really tough game. There's going to be moments where we're going to suffer without the ball because we know what a top side Manchester City are.
“But it's how we manage those emotions, how we keep ourselves cool.
“We know the football that we can play and we just have to have the confidence that we can do it on that stage.”
Maybe it was a different pressure at St Helens on that bright but chilly semi-final Sunday.
Wembley is a prize in itself. As should be the case in the men’s game, it is reserved only for finalists.
They were playing a Liverpool side who are better than their low-lying league placing suggests, all of which brings its own expectation.
Maybe it even got to Kirby herself once or twice.
Fran Kirby was named Albion player of the season (Image: BHAFC/Paul Hazlewood)
“Well, I mean, I was rubbish, so yeah!” she said with a laugh.
“I think there was a mixture. I think there was nerves, but also I think Liverpool played very well in the first half.
“I think they really nullified us, really played out well.
“We know that there are top sides. So we also have to give them credit in the way that they perform.”
But Albion can play a bit as well and that is the side of their game they will hope to show the world. Do themselves justice.
With Kirby’s clever promptings, with Madison Haley as an attacking force and with Seike's direct style of wing play that makes her easy to compare to Kaoru Mitoma for reasons alongside their nationality.
The poise of players such as Minami and Manuela Vanegas helps them play out from the back while Nnadozie is a formidable sweeper-keeper.
Kirby said: “I think we dominated the (Liverpool) game in the second half.
“You are not going to have amazing games for the whole 90 minutes, but we were able to claw ourselves back and maybe getting the goal straight after their second calmed us down a little bit.
“We definitely have to start the FA Cup a lot faster and in a better position than we did in the semi-final.”