The birthday party invitations would come to places like Pump it Up and Bounce, and Ava Moran would swat them away like so many defenders trying to cover her.

She was between 7 and 8 years old, outgoing and friendly, and so, of course, she had plenty of friends, who turned older every year and celebrated in honor of it.

But while other kids were soaring on trampolines or racing around playing laser tag, she’d be on the soccer field, training.

She is training to get better and be the best, with private coaches working on her dribbling, passing, and movement without the ball.

“Yeah, I missed a lot of birthday parties, but I didn’t care,” Moran said this week. “I was so competitive and really had a lot of fun doing what I was doing, playing soccer. I don’t regret it at all.”

While Moran might not have gotten many goody bags in her life (ah, they’re overrated, anyway), her passion for the world’s favorite sport has certainly paid off.

Now a senior at Great Neck South, she enters this senior year as one of the most dangerous players on Long Island.

Last season, she led Nassau County with 22 goals as the Rebels enjoyed an undefeated regular season, marred only by a first-round playoff loss.

This year, with a much younger squad that’s a bit less skilled, Moran has been moved to defense but still is expected to be a leader and contributor.

“She’s been a leader for four years for us, and even as a freshman, with her attitude and her skills, you know she was going to be a great leader,” said Great Neck South coach Bill Neville. “She’s being asked to do a lot of different things this year, and teach younger kids, and she’s done such a great job of that.”

As good as Moran has been at Great Neck South, she’s also been plying her skills elsewhere. For the last two years she’s played on the youth division of NYCFC; the parent club is in Major League Soccer, while the U-18 Academy team Moran is on trains in New York and plays tournaments all over the country.

And, oh yeah, she’s gone international now, too. This past summer Moran was invited to try out for the U-19 national team of Ireland, and if she makes it, her dual citizenship will come in mighty handy (her Dad’s parents were both born there) on frequent trips back to Dublin.

“It all happened because the coach of my club team also had worked for the Football Association of Ireland, and he talked to the women’s youth coach there, and then there was an article in the Irish Echo newspaper about me,” Moran said excitedly. “And so they reached out and I tried out and it was a lot of fun.”

Moran won’t find out if she’ll be playing in the homeland of Guinness beer and shamrocks for a few more weeks, but she’s having an impact right now for the Rebels. She and junior Hannah Hui are the veterans on a squad short on experience, but the games they’ve logged have certainly helped.

Last season, Hui had 15 goals and 12 assists, and many of those helpers went to Moran.

“I can’t stress enough that it wasn’t me scoring 22 goals, it was the whole team scoring 22 goals,” Moran said. “Hannah is so great to play with; we read each other on the field really well and communicate really well.”

Moran’s father, John, is the reason she first tried soccer, and Ava had fallen in love with the sport by the time she was 6.

She’s played for various club teams, including the Long Island Soccer Club, and Neville said her soccer IQ is part of what sets her apart.

“She just knows where to be at all times, and she scores a lot of times because she’s always in the right positions,” Neville said. “She’s aggressive and finds open spaces.

“Honestly,” Neville added, “she could’ve had more than 22 (goals), but if we were comfortably ahead in a game, she shut herself down. Sometimes she’d even play goalie for us.”

Moran knows that playing on defense will likely mean her goal total will go down, but she doesn’t care. She’s currently weighing offers from several Division I colleges like Siena, Iona and Marist, and wants to find a school that will allow her to pursue a nursing degree while she competes.

“I love helping people,” she said. “One of my cousins is a nurse, and I want to become a nurse anesthetist. But some schools have told me that they don’t want me to do that program because it’s too time-consuming to do that and play varsity soccer. So I’m looking for the right fit.”

In the meantime, Moran is trying to learn the words to the Irish national anthem, just in case she needs it.

“If it happens, that’d be awesome, but if not, it’s OK too,” she said, sounding upbeat as usual. “It was a great experience being there.”