Local Fermanagh woman, past President elect of Ulster Hockey and former Enniskillen Hockey Club stalwart, Mary Swan, had the honour of presenting her former pupil and current hockey international, Shirley McCay with her Ireland shirt at a special ceremony staged recently in Dublin. 
This was held before the Ireland Women’s hockey squad left to compete in their first World Cup for 16 years, taking place at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
Mary is a former Head of Physical Education at Omagh Academy and responsible for producing a plethora of outstanding provincial and international hockey players during her teaching career in Omagh. Whilst a pupil at Omagh Academy, Shirley McCay was an integral part of their Schools’ Cup and All -Ireland Cup winning teams and her former teacher and coach has followed Shirley’s international career since she represented Ireland at Under 16 and Under 18 level and then won her first senior cap for Ireland back in 2007. It was very fitting therefore, and a wonderful gesture from Shirley, to invite Mary to share this very special moment in her illustrious international career with her family and friends before the squad departed for the World Cup.
Shirley McCay is now Ireland’s most capped female international player in team sport in Ireland, having amassed a staggering 267caps prior to the World Cup Finals - an achievement that may not be equalled!
Shirley and her Ireland teammates face a difficult task in Pool B at the finals but they started their campaign with a stunning 3-1 win over a strong America side, with Shirley scoring Ireland’s second goal. Indeed, with England and India, the other two teams in the pool, drawing their game, Ireland sit top of the table after the first round of games.
Next up for Ireland is a meeting with India and then finally they will face hosts and current Olympic Champions, England. 
All of these teams are ranked higher than Ireland, but with Shirley and the girls having beaten some higher ranked teams in their warm up games, they will be quietly confident that they can progress!
Of course, Mary will be there in person at the Olympic Stadium to cheer on Shirley and the rest of the Green Army who will be hoping to achieve their aim of getting out of their Pool and making it to the cross over stage of the tournament.
 Let’s hope that Mary sees her former pupil achieve this goal.