An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir September 2018 www.dfmagazine.ie 32 | BY SGT RENA KENNEDY P te Ciamh Gray is from Portlaoise and joined the De- fence Forces in 2014. Growing up she played every sport possible concentrating mainly on soccer and GAA. She was Laois County goalkeeper for 10 years and won numerous underage, Junior and intermediate Ladies Football county championship titles with her home club. While playing with Laois she won Leinster titles from U14 to Minor, a Leinster senior title and was awarded a ladies GAA All-Star award recognising her skill in the net. Trying to combine playing both Ladies GAA and soccer to a high standard was challenging at times but Ciamh persevered and played at the very highest level at soccer representing her country at U15, U17 and U19, playing in various competitions all across Europe. Her soccer playing days started with Portlaoise AFC when she was eight years old and she progressed playing with Midland, South Leinster before being called to the national squad. Earlier this season Ciamh signed for Wexford Youths Ladies team who are the current Continental Tyres Women's National League Champions, having won the 2017 title by two points. Tom Elms' team are unbeaten domestically this sea- son, with 13 wins and 1 draw from their 14 league games. They'll face main rivals Peamount United in the League Cup final next month. In August they played in the UEFA Champions League as Ireland's representative. The games held in Belfast were against European giants and Dutch Champions Ajax as well as Icelandic Champions Thor/KA and Northern Ireland Champions and hosts Linfield Ladies. This competition runs a little differently to the Champions League and Europa League in terms of how the qualification process works. Wexford Youths were in a group of four teams and the team that finished at the top of the group qualified for the next round. The results didn't go Youths way with two losses and one win; how- ever Ciamh certainly enjoyed the experience, "It's absolutely incredible, I'm playing with and against the finest calibre of players." Ciamh is currently working in the office of the Comdt of the Military College in the DFTC, and is very appreciative of the support she receives from her colleagues, "I'm very fortunate that the Defence Forces facili- tate me as they take great pride in their members playing sport at a high level" added Ciamh, who has also represented the Defence Forces in games against League of Ireland teams and against the Royal Air Force. We wish Ciamh every success in her professional and sporting career.

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