DCU scholarship athlete and Irish international cricketer, Una Raymond-Hoey, has been awarded an overseas development scholarship.
While in Australia, Raymond-Hoey will play with South Perth CC and undertake her INTRA placement with the Western Australian Cricket Association.
“I’ll be traveling to Perth after our exams at the end of January for 3 months and playing five 50-over matches for South Perth CC,” Raymond-Hoey told The College View.
“I’ll also be undertaking a Sports Science Internship with the Western Australian Cricket Association and working with their professional women’s team and underage Academy sides in the area of S&C and athlete monitoring.”
Raymond-Hoey worked with Enda Murphy over the summer in DCU and is now looking forward to getting experience with high level athletes.
“I gained some experience in the area of exercise physiology working with Enda Murphy in the DCU labs over the summer, but I’m really looking forward to also getting some practical experience working with top-class athletes.”
“I’m able to pursue this opportunity as I was one of four recipients awarded an Overseas Development scholarship from Devenish Nutrition and Cricket Ireland this week,” she said.
This season was Raymond-Hoey’s return to cricket after a 17 month layoff due to a torn ACL.
Her first match back after the layoff, made longer due to the timing of cricket seasons, was for Ireland against Zimbabwe in Harare.
“I returned to captain my home club, Clontarf CC, this year, as the team was returning to Division 1 after being relegated 3 years ago.”
“It was also my first season back after missing the entirety of the 2017 season due to a torn ACL, so I really enjoyed being back playing for Clontarf and my Super 3s team, the Scorchers.”
“My first match back following the injury after a 17 months layoff was for Ireland against Zimbabwe in Harare last February,” she said.
“I’d only made my debut a couple of months before I tore the ACL so while I didn’t get any big scores during that series I was really pleased to be back competing at that level and opening the batting internationally.”
The 21-year-old praised DCU and Ross Munnelly, who were both a huge support for her, both when the injury occurred and through her recovery.
“DCU and Ross Munnelly were a huge support for me when the injury happened in November 2016 and backed me all the way through my recovery, as I had high aspirations to return to play internationally.”
“The biggest motivating factor for me during those winter months was getting to stay involved with the other DCU Scholarship athletes and learning from them. I think DCU has created a really good sporting culture within the university where all their athletes are valued and supported.”
Raymond-Hoey says the 2018 series has been the most enjoyable so far in her career and this summer she captained the Ireland A side in Scotland and opened the batting for the senior women against New Zealand.
“The 2018 series was definitely my most enjoyable season so far in my career as I just really appreciated being back playing with my teammates and training every day.”
“Obviously no one wants to be injured, but I think it made me reassess what I wanted in my career and the work I was willing to put in to try and achieve that,” Raymond-Hoey said.
“I was delighted to be asked to captain Ireland A in an away series against Scotland this summer as I love the extra challenges that captaincy brings – such as managing teammates and tactical awareness.”
“The highlight of the season for me from an international perspective was opening the batting against New Zealand in a home series against the Kiwis in June and top-scoring for Ireland in one of the ODIs, which happened to be played at my home club.“
Gerard Grimes
Image Credit: Seb Daly/Sportsfile.