DCU Sports & Well Being Update

Congratulations to the ten DCU students and alumni who qualified for the Olympic Games 2021 in Tokyo. Five current DCU students competed as part of Team Ireland’s Athletics and Hockey teams. DCU has been delighted to support all these athletes as sports scholars, as they balanced their academic and sporting careers in pursuit of achieving their Olympic dreams. The athletics events took place in both Sapporo Odori Park and the Olympic Stadium in the second week of the Games, running from Friday, 30 July to Sunday, 8 August. The Irish hockey team competed in Oi Hockey Stadium from 24 July until 6 August, 2021. The qualifying DCU students are: • Nadia Power, a fourth year Marketing, Innovation and Technology student at DCU, who won bronze at the European Athletics U23 Championships 800m race in 2019. Nadia competed in the 800m. • Andrew Corcoran is a final year BSc Education and Training student at DCU’s Institute of Education. Andrew competed in the 1500m. • Cillín Greene is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Law and Society. Cillín competed in the mixed 4 x 400m relay. • Sophie Becker also qualified to take part in the mixed 4 x 400m relay. Sophie is currently studying for BSc in Genetics & Cell Biology at DCU. • Sarah Torrans, a third year General Nursing student joined the team of 16 Hockey players that travelled to compete in Oi Hockey Stadium from the 24 July until the 6 August, 2021. 

Five DCU graduates will also compete as part of Ireland’s Athletics, Hockey and Swim teams:

• Cliodhna Manning (Accounting & Finance, 2017) was selected for Ireland’s mixed 4 x 400m relay team.

• Fionnuala McCormack (Sports Science & Health, 2008) was among the Irish marathon team.

• Brendan Hyland (Accounting & Finance, 2019) is a member of the nine-strong swimming team who competed for Team Ireland in the Men’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay.

• Hannah Matthews (Athletic Therapy & Training 2013) competed as part of the Team Ireland Women’s Hockey team. • Foster Horan (Sports Science and Health, 2017) competed as part of the Rugby 7’s team.

ATHLETICS

National records and new PBs for DCU athletes 

Despite the lack of university competitions during 2020, DCU athletes were again to the fore at home and abroad. Nadia Power (Marketing, Innovation and Technology student) broke the National 800m indoor record twice during a season in which she represented Ireland at the European Indoors in Poland, which brought her well into contention for a Tokyo Olympics place over 800m. National 400m champion Sophie Becker (Genetics and Cell Biology student) ran a series of impressive 400m races indoors, improving her PB to 53.20. This saw her qualify for the European indoors and move to third on the Irish all-time indoor list.

Other DCU women athletes to the fore included:

• Michaela Walsh (Physical Education and Biology student) retained her National Shot Put title and was selected to represent Ireland at the European Throwing Cup in May.

• Aoife Lynch (Mechatronic Engineering student) was selected to make her first senior international debut last May as part of the Women’s 4x100m Relay at the World Relay championships in Poland after a series of PBs over 60m indoors and also placed 5th in the Women’s 1500m Final at the Paralympics.

• DCU Alumna, Greta Streimikyte had a great performance over 1500m indoors clocking 4:42.61.

HOCKEY

Sarah Torrans 

Sarah Torrans is a current student of BSc General Nursing at DCU. From Knocklyon in Dublin, Sarah had a stellar track record as captain of the Irish under-18 hockey team before winning her first senior cap for Ireland when she was a first year student in DCU.

She was the youngest member of the 22 player squad until the final selection before the 2018 World Cup. As a sports scholar, Sarah has availed of DCU’s performance athlete academic flexibility policy, and had taken leave of absence from her degree this year to focus on training and squad selection for the 2021 Olympics with the international team.

SOCCER

Niamh Farrelly

While third level football was cancelled last year due to Covid, it was still a memorable season for scholarship player Niamh Farrelly. Competing in the SSE Airtricity Women’s National League, Niamh was a key player as Peamount United became double champions in December 2020.

Her outstanding club performances saw her named in the WNL Team of the Year and brought her to the attention of Champions League opponents Glasgow City. Niamh signed her first professional contract with Glasgow at the end of December and made her debut against Celtic on April 4, scoring in a 3-0 victory.

The defender from Lucan has been capped twice at senior International level and hopes that the move to Glasgow will help her to secure a regular slot in Vera Pauw’s team.

Niamh is continuing her BSc Sports Science and Health degree at DCU, while pursuing her football dreams