Girls Aloud

ON June 17 2001 Karen O’Brien walked away from international hockey. At just 27 years of age she was probably just coming to the peak of her career as an international striker, but the burden of being an amateur player in an almost entirely professional set-up with Ireland was becoming too much.

She had to make a terrible decision: fulfil her career potential or jack it in for a short-term period with her name in lights as a top-line hockey international. In the end it was no choice.

It was not a decision that Riet Kuper, Ireland's Dutch coach particularly wanted to hear, but it was one she had to accept because Karen, like most of the other women on the team, was making huge sacrifices for effectively no gain.