Archive for category: General

Position: Defence
Age: 33
Caps: 311
1^st Cap: January 2007, South Africa, v Canada
Hometown: Drumquin, Co Tyrone
Date of Birth: 7 June 1988
Current Club: Pegasus
Former Clubs: Omagh, Randalstown Ulster Elks, KHC Dragons, Old Alex
Education: Omagh Academy
Job: Ulster Hockey Talent Coach
Instagram: @shirleymccay
Twitter: @shirleymccay

MAJOR HONOURS
International
2009: Champions Challenge II – bronze
2015: World League Round 2 – gold
2015: EuroHockey Championships II – gold
2017: World League Round 2: gold
2018: World Cup – silver
2019: FIH Hockey Series – silver

Club
2014-15 Irish Senior Cup winners (Ulster Elks)
2015-16 Irish Senior Cup winners (Ulster Elks)
2018-19 Irish Hockey League winners (Pegasus)
2018-19 EY Champions Trophy winners (Pegasus)

School
2005 Ulster Schools Senior Cup
2005 Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirl Championships

BIOGRAPHY
Ireland’s most capped sportswoman, Shirley McCay was first encouraged to play hockey by her PE teacher, Mary Swann at Omagh Academy. In 2005 she was a member of the Omagh team that won the Ulster Senior Schoolgirls’ Cup and the Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirls Championships.

On the club front, she started off at Randalstown before linking up with Ulster Elks where she had stints, the latter of which brought a pair of Irish Senior Cup titles in 2015 and 2016. That sandwiched a spell in Dublin with Old Alex while she studied a masters in journalism. After Elks, she moved to Pegasus whom she played a key role in their 2018/19 success in the Irish Hockey League.

She made her senior Irish debut in January 2007 against Canada. She captained Ireland in her 100^th appearance in April 2011 while her 200^th cap arrived in June 2015; she surpassed the Irish caps record previously held by Nikki Symmons (209) later that summer against the Czech Republic. Cap number 250 arrived at the 2017 European Championships in the Wagener Stadium.

On the medals front, she was in the World League Round 2 gold winning sides in 2015 and 2017 and also the 2015 EuroHockey Championship II success.

She had initially indicated the 2018 World Cup run to silver would be the scene of her final international appearance. She excelled, scoring a peach of a goal against the United States and was named player of the match in the pool game against India.

She was tempted back into the fray in 2019 by the lure of one more bid for an Olympic berth which came to fruition at Donnybrook in front of a record-breaking crowd. McCay indicated June’s Euros in Amstelveen woul be her “eighth and last”, putting her in a rare bracket of players in the world to have played so frequently in the continent’s top tier.

Position: Forward
Age: 29
Caps: 146
1^st Cap: June 2013 v Scotland
Hometown: Dublin
Date of Birth: 9 June 1992
Current Club: Old Alex
Former Clubs: Three Rock Rovers, Hermes, UCD, Northeastern Huskies (USA), Düsseldorfer HC (Germany)
Education: Alexandra College
Job: Trainee solicitor
Instagram: @deirdre_duke28
Twitter:  @deirdreduke28

MAJOR HONOURS
International
2015: EuroHockey Championships II – gold
2018: World Cup – silver
2019: FIH Hockey Series – silver

Club
2011-12: Irish Senior Cup winners (UCD)
2013-14: Irish Hockey League winners (UCD)
2013-14: Irish Senior Cup winners (UCD)
2016-17: Irish Hockey League winners (UCD)
2016-17: Irish Senior Cup winners (UCD)
2017: EY Champions Trophy winners (UCD)
2017-18: Irish Hockey League winners (UCD)
2017-18: Irish Senior Cup winners (UCD)

School
2011: Leinster Schools Senior Cup (Alex College)

BIOGRAPHY
In addition to her hockey exploits, the multi-talented Deirdre Duke also won an All-Ireland Under-14 Ladies’ Football Championship with Dublin and represented the Republic of Ireland women’s national under-17 football team where her international teammates included Ciara Grant, Naomi Carroll and Dora Gorman. In her early years, she helped Alexandra College, in 2011 along with Emily Beatty, land the Leinster Schoolgirls’ Senior Cup. In the final they defeated a St. Andrew’s College team that included Gillian Pinder.

She subsequently went on to win a plethora of trophies with UCD – eight on the national stage – captaining them to a treble in 2017. That season, she scored the winner in the Irish Senior Cup final as UCD defeated Cork Harlequin. She was also captain a year later when UCD defeated Pegasus 4–0 to retain the cup.

Her UCD career was briefly punctuated by a year with the Northeastern Huskies. While in Boston, Duke was watching the 2013 marathon when the event was interrupted by a terrorist attack. She was standing close to the spot where the second bomb went off but had left the area just half an hour before the explosions.

Following her performances with Ireland at the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup, Duke announced she would be joining Düsseldorfer Hockey Club for the 2018–19 season and she reached the German final four playoffs with the club.

For Ireland, Duke represented in green at Under-16, Under-18 and Under-21 levels  before making her senior debut against Scotland in June 2013. Duke was a member of the Ireland team that won the 2015 Women’s EuroHockey Championship II, defeating the Czech Republic 5–0 in the final.

But it was at the 2018 World Cup where she came into her own. On 21 July 2018 she scored twice against the United States as Ireland won their opening pool stage game 3–1. She also featured in further pool games against India and England, in the quarter-final against India, in the semi-final against Spain and in the final against the Netherlands.

This year, Duke was initially named as a travelling reserve for the EuroHockey Championships but stepped into the main panel when Sarah Torrans was ruled out through injury. She went on to score the official “Goal of the Tournament” for her strike against England.

Position: Defence/Midfield
Age: 27
Caps: 81
1st Cap: Scotland November 2016
Hometown: Janesboro, Limerick
Date of Birth: 1 April 1994
Current Club: Catholic Institute
Former Clubs: UConn Huskies, Cork Harlequins
Education: Crescent College Comprehensive
Job: Primary School Teacher
Instagram: @roisinupton
Twitter: @roisinupton

MAJOR HONOURS
International                                               
2017: World League Round 2: gold
2018: World Cup – silver
2019: FIH Hockey Series – silver

Club
2012: Big East Conference winners (UConn Huskies)
2013: Big East Conference & NCAA Division I (UConn Huskies)
2014: Big East Conference & NCAA Division I (UConn Huskies)
2015: Big East Conference winners (UConn Huskies)

School
2010 & 2011: Munster Schools Senior Cup winners (Crescent Comprehensive)

BIOGRAPHY
Upton’s international career took a while to lift off after a number of false starts, but the Limerick native has gone on to become one of the pivotal members of Ireland’s defence in a sweeper role. From Raheen, Upton attended An Mhodh Scoil and Crescent College before studying at the University of Connecticut where she gained a BA in Psychology. In 2019 she completed her two years Masters in Primary education in Mary Immaculate College Limerick.

As well as playing field hockey in her youth, Upton also played ladies’ Gaelic football for Mungret St Paul’s and women’s association football for Janesboro. Her formative hockey years were with Crescent and Catholic Institute, winning two schools Junior and Senior Cup titles apiece, going on to be named the Munster and Ireland youth player of the year in 2011. It earned her a scholarship to University of Connecticut. During this time she was a prominent member of the UConn Huskies teams that won the 2013 and 2014 NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championships. Upton captained the team during the 2014 season and in 2014 and 2015 was nominated for the Honda Sports Award. Upton also helped the team win four consecutive Big East Conference Field Hockey Tournaments between 2012 and 2015.

On her return to Ireland, she began playing for Cork Harlequins in the Women’s Irish Hockey League. Upton, along with Yvonne O’Byrne and Naomi Carroll, played for Harlequins in the 2017 Irish Senior Cup final, losing 1–0 to UCD. In 2017–18 she helped Harlequins finished as runners up in both the Women’s Irish Hockey League and the EY Champions Trophy. She re-joined Catholic Institute in 2018, helping them to promotion to the top tier in some style.

For Ireland, together with Emily Beatty and Katie Mullan, Upton represented Ireland at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games. Graham Shaw first included Upton in an Ireland squad in 2015 and then again in January 2016 but, on both occasions, Upton had to withdraw because of injuries. She eventually made her senior debut on 6 November 2016 against Scotland. In January 2017 she was a member of the Ireland team that won a 2016–17 Women’s FIH Hockey World League Round 2 tournament in Kuala Lumpur, defeating Malaysia 3–0 in the final. Upton scored four goals in the tournament. She scored a hat-trick in a 10–0 against Singapore.

Upton represented Ireland at the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup and was a prominent member of the team that won the silver medal. Upton provided an assist for Anna O’Flanagan. In the quarter-final against India, she was the first Ireland player to score in the shoot-out. She would repeat that trick in the most dramatic of fashions in the 2019 Olympic qualifiers, flicking in from the baseline when the ball looked to be running out of play.

At the 2019 Euros, she was Ireland’s top scorer with four goals in five games, all of them coming in an 11-0 win over Belarus.

Position: Forward
Age: 22
Caps: 26
1st Cap: January 2017 vs Scotland
Hometown: Knocklyon
Date of Birth: 14 February 1999
Current Club: Loreto
Former Club: Corinthian
Education: Loreto St Stephen’s Green
Job: Nursing student
Instagram: @sarah_torrans
Twitter: @sarah_torrans

MAJOR HONOURS
Club
2018: EY Champions Trophy winners
2020: Jacqui Potter Cup

BIOGRAPHY
Knocklyon’s Sarah Torrans is looking forward to finally getting her major international debut after a series of close-run things in recent years.

In 2018 as a teenager, she came within a whisker of being part of the World Cup silver medal winning squad after a whirlwind beginning to life as a senior international. Her gorgeous strike against Japan in one of the last warm-up games brought her to the brink of selection, ultimately named as one of three reserves alongside Emily Beatty and Naomi Carroll.

Her brief, though, was a watching one – featuring in RTE’s fan clips from the Glenside in Churchtown with many of her Loreto club mates – before getting to rejoin her Irish team mates on the Dame Street stage for the silver medal homecoming.

Since then, though, she endured a frustrating 2019. She was due to captain the Irish Under-21s at the Junior European Championships but a freak injury 10 days out for the tournament ruled her out of not just that event but, also, contention for the Euro seniors a month later.

Torrans was also initially named in the Irish panel for this summer’s European Championships but a late injury ruled her out but she has worked her way back to fitness to get this chance.

Her initial sporting history started with Corinthian Hockey Club’s hugely impressive youth section which she took in alongside life as a sprinter with Dundrum South Dublin Athletics Club. She won numerous national medals, notably helping to break a national Under-16 4x200m relay record. She frequently competed against the likes of Ciara Neville and Sharlene Mawdsley on this stage.

Position: Midfield
Age: 29
Caps: 229
1^st Cap: 25th July 2010 vs Scotland
Hometown: Killiney
Date of Birth: 7 March 1992
Current Club: Monkstown
Former Clubs: Hermes, UCD, Club de Campo de Madrid (Spain) Hermes-Monkstown, HC Bloemendaal (NED)
Education: St Andrew’s College
Job: Trainee accountant
Instagram: @Clowatkins
Twitter: @Clowatkins

MAJOR HONOURS
International  
2012: Champions Challenge I – bronze
2014: Champions Challenge I – silver
2015: World League Round 2 – gold
2017: World League Round 2: gold
2018: World Cup – silver
2019: FIH Hockey Series – silver

Club
2008: All-Ireland Club Championships (Hermes)
2011-12: Irish Senior Cup winners (UCD)
2013-14: Division de Honor Femenina (Club de Campo)
2013-14: Copa de la Reina (Club de Campo)
2015-16: Irish Hockey League (Hermes-Monkstown)
2015-16: EY Champions Trophy (Hermes-Monkstown)
2017: Gold Cup (HC Bloemendaal)

School
2005-06. 2008-09, 2009-10: Leinster Schools Senior Cup (St Andrew’s College)
2010: Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirls Championships

BIOGRAPHY
Ireland’s second most capped women’s hockey player, the Monkstown woman is the creative engine for the Green Army. Hailing from a famous hockey family, her father Gordon and brother Gareth also played for Ireland but not nearly to the same extent as Chloe. As such, much of her youth was spent going down to Monkstown to watch her brother – Gareth, also an international – in action and she was itching to hit the turf. At St Andrew’s College, she played in four Leinster Schoolgirls’ Senior Cup finals, winning the 2006 as a 13-year-old, scoring a goal against Loreto Beaufort to win 2-0. They beat the same opposition in the 2009 final and, in 2010, Chloe captained St. Andrew’s as they defeated an Alexandra College team that featured Deirdre Duke and Emily Beatty. For good measure, they added the Kate Russell All-Ireland Schoolgirls title with a 3-1 win over Coláiste Iognáid, Galway 3–1 in the final.

In 2008, while still a 16-year-old schoolgirl, Watkins, together with fellow schoolgirls, Anna O’Flanagan and Nicola Evans, was a member of the Hermes team that won the All-Ireland Ladies’ Club Championships. She began playing for UCD in 2010–11 and she won an Irish Senior Cup in her second season before doing a Spanish double while on Erasmus with Club de Campo de Madrid. 2015 saw a return to the now amalgamated Hermes-Monkstown along with Anna O’Flanagan and Nikki Evans, winning the Women’s Irish Hockey League title and the EY Champions Trophy. Together with O’Flanagan, she spent the 2017–18 season playing for HC Bloemendaal in the Hoofdklasse in the Netherlands. They were coached by former world player of the year Teun de Nooijer and they helped Bloemendaal win the Gold Cup.

Internationally, she made her debut for Ireland, aged 18, in July 2010 against Scotland, just a month after completing her Leaving Cert.  Highlights include a 2012 Champions Challenge bronze, bettered two years later by a silver in 2014 in Dublin. World League Round 2 gold came in 2015 and 2017. During the 2018 World Cup silver medal run, Watkins scored twice in shoot-outs. In the quarter-final against India she scored the winning effort to send Ireland through to the semi-final. She also scored in the shoot-out in the semi-final against Spain. In the final against the Netherlands, Watkins made her 200th senior international appearance for Ireland. And her prowess in shoot-outs continued to the Olympic qualifiers in 2019 when she coolly slotted her effort on the backhand to keep the contest alive against Canada, leading to that famous “Watkins wink” directed at goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran.

Watkins revealed last summer that she had undergone surgery after she experienced heart palpitations at a training camp in South Africa. She says she was lucky to have caught it in time with the elective surgery likely to have been put on hold had it been during lockdown time.