Issue link: http://digitaleditions.uberflip.com/i/1302727
50 | AUTUMN 2020 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie WHERE DO YOU WORK? I am based in Toome Dental & Aesthetics in Toomebridge, Co. Antrim. It's about half an hour away from home in Moneymore so it's quite a handy place for me to work. I went to university in 2015 and stayed in Scotland for a year after that. I came home in 2016 and I've been in Toome ever since. It's great, I think I could have found a lifelong job for myself. I can't see me moving from there, it's a great fit for me. WHERE DID YOU GO TO COLLEGE? I went across the seas...I went over to Dundee in Scotland to study. Initially I wanted to go to Queens University but I didn't get the offer. I was so disappointed, but then I got the offer to go to Dundee. Do you know what, it was the best thing for me. I absolutely loved it. It is such a nice wee city. I got involved in the GAA over there pretty quickly so I ended up making loads of friends from home. I wouldn't change it at all. PLAYING GAA ABROAD, WAS IT VERY DIFFERENT? It was massively different. When I went over they had a football team team formed for one or two years, and we were only getting nine or ten in for training. We were pulling people from all corners for matches just to get a team out. A lot of people that were playing with us hadn't ever played football before, or had played it when they were younger and were just coming back to the sport. For the first couple of years over there we were getting stuffed, we were struggling to get the ball over the halfway line, but things slowly improved. In my third year we started to get good numbers; from nine in year, one we were getting more than 30 out at training. It was class and we ended up winning the Division 2 competition in Scotland. We went up to the next level the following year and that was tough against the big teams, but the progress was unreal. HOW LONG DID YOU STUDY? It's a five-year course. It's five years of study and when you are finished you have to work for one year, basically to get yourself on an NHS list. I stayed over in Scotland for that additional year and came home after that. The first year studying is all theory, apart from a bit of dissection. That's the only hands-on work at the start. The theory is very interesting but it's not for everybody. From second year onwards, you start seeing patients. That advances every year but the consultant is always overseeing what you are doing. You might have one patient per day, and that's not every day. By fifth year you work up to having four or five patients per day. It can be a long day for the patients as they get their work done, but they're getting it done for free, so it works well for everyone. IS DENTISTRY SOMETHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO PURSUE? I really didn't have a clue what I wanted to do after school. When I picked my A level subjects I knew I wanted to work in healthcare, but it was only when I went to a dentist for work experience that I knew that I wanted to go down that route. HAS IT BEEN DIFFICULT TO MERGE WORK AND YOUR FOOTBALLING CAREER? It is a pretty good mix for me now. When I started out working we had Monday evening games at 7.30pm and I'd only get out of work at 7pm. For a while I was finishing treatment, racing down the road, not getting a warm-up and jumping straight into a match. That wasn't ideal at all, but now we are not doing those Monday evenings, which suits me well. Unlike doctors and nurses, I have a pretty regimented calendar. I know what hours I'll be working so playing football goes well with my career. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR INTER-COUNTY CAREER? Before I went to Dundee I was involved in the Derry development squad in 2008, but I was only 15 at that stage and I wasn't allowed to play at the adult grade. It was 2010 that I went to Scotland and it wasn't until 2018 that I linked up with the county team. I was back home for 2017, when the girls got to the All-Ireland junior final and I wasn't involved in that. But I've really enjoyed being involved in the last couple of years. AS A DENTAL PROFESSIONAL HAVE YOU ANY ADVICE FOR PLAYERS? I am a massive supporter of players wearing gum shields. At work we specialise in 'apro' gum shields, which protect your teeth and gums and they're absolutely fantastic. I have always worn one when playing sport, even before I went into a career in dentistry. You always see people shoving their gum shields into their socks, but there is no point in that. I couldn't do it. If you get a knock at all, you can do so much damage. EXCITED TO GET BACK INTO COUNTY SCENE? We're massively excited. Even though Covid has affected a lot of sports, it has been great to play a lot of club football. It has also allowed managers to get out and see more games. I think we'll see a lot more girls stepping up to the county teams from the club scene. The season had been going well for us, and then lockdown happened. Keeping motivated was tough for a while when we didn't know if the season was going to go ahead, but now we're back it feels great. Numbers are great and we can't wait to get back into it now. GUESS WHAT I DO GRACE CONWAY