Graduate rower has high hope for Rio

A GAA player who rowed for the Irish Paralympic team after been struck down with a degenerative eye disease was one of more than 750 students who celebrated graduating from the University of Limerick yesterday.

Shane Ryan was 16 when he began suffering the effects of Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl syndrome, an inherited genetic condition which affects approximately one in 100,000.

The 25-year-old rower, who represented Ireland in the London 2012 Games, graduated with a certificate in Exercise and Health Fitness after completing a six-month course.

He is already preparing for qualification in 2015 for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.

“Rio is my next aim,” said Shane. “I competed in London, which is the first major achievement in my life. In the Paralympics we have to qualify the year before we compete. The training is quiet intense. It’s basically eat and sleep training.”

Retired RTÉ sports broadcaster Jim Sherwin and wife Anne attended to share in their son Ian’s graduation.

Ian, who graduated with a Masters in Sports Science, is now pursuing a PhD at UL, and hopes to build on career links he has already made within IRFU and Munster Rugby circles.

Chloe Breheny, from Tipperary town, stood out from the crowd in her smart crisp green official Irish Army uniform.

The 24-year-old lieutenant, who is a PE instructor based in the Curragh army base camp in Co Kildare, said she hopes to be posted to Syria to help in the UN’s peace-keeping duties there.

“I’d like to go to Lebanon or Syria,” she said. “The army should be going over to Syria soon, at some stage, and I’d like to be part of it.”

Ex-Irish and Munster rugby star Jerry Flannery, who is away on a holiday, was conferred in his absence with a Masters in Science and Sports Performance.

The 34-year-old former hooker recently joined Premier League soccer giants Arsenal on a work placement as a strength and conditioning coach.