Michelle Carey's journey from club footballer to Olympic hopeful

Michelle Carey: Played ladies football this summer for her club. Picture: Adrian Boehm

Michelle Carey admits she was “surprised but delighted” to earn a place in the Irish Olympic squad for 2021 from which the final places for Tokyo will be selected.

The uncapped 20-year-old is one of two uncapped players along with Ards’ striker Zara Malseed having made a big impression in the latter half of 2020.

It is quite a rise for the UCD midfielder who was far enough off the radar earlier this year to be allowed to line out for Ballinteer St John’s ladies footballers in their successful Junior A championship success in August.

The Irish squad features an array of talented footballers among other codes from their earlier sporting lives but central panelists are normally precluded from such activities.

Indeed, had this been a normal year, Olympic hopes would have been firmly focused on 2024 for her but Covid has opened up an opportunity and, with Gillian Pinder stepping away from the panel, a fight is on for a midfield spot.

To that end, Carey has made full use of her call for training with the panel since September while her deft 3D skills provided the most memorable moment of UCD’s delayed Irish Senior Cup success and boosted her cause.

Since then, she has undertaken coach Sean Dancer’s intensive winter training camps, three six-week blocks peppered with hardcore challenge inter-squad matches, with relish.

“There was a big emphasis on inter-squad games as well as the Under-19 boys and the senior men at one stage.

“With the boys and the men, it is a faster, stronger standard. There has been a lot of matches in close proximity to each other so there was always a drive to perform. I know it’s not an international and not a cap but everyone could see the challenge those matches held.”

It is a take-it-as-it-comes attitude which has led her to hockey rather than her other passion. Indeed, had her schedule fallen slightly differently four years ago, it could have been a very different story.

In 2015, she lined out in midfield alongside Jennifer Dunne as Dublin completed a sixth successive Leinster U16 title which, along with twin sister Niamh, she married with Irish U16 hockey commitments.

But the following year meant a pile-up of commitments at U18 level and a decision had to be made to reduce the load.

“I loved them both equally,” Carey said. “For me, it was simply that the Europeans were on first the next summer and I wanted I’d go for that. It was definitely more what was on the horizon than a matter of enjoying one more than the other so Niamh and I went for the hockey.”

It proved the fork in the road toward possible Olympic inclusion and away from an All-Ireland. It also puts her in line to be the first player in well over a decade to earn a cap despite not playing schools hockey.

Again, it was something that drifted by her, saying she got her fill of schools sports at Coláiste Íosagáin, winning senior A Dublin camogie titles along the way.

“Schools hockey is such a big part of how we play in Ireland but I always had football and camogie. You would notice people talking about it and asking why we didn’t play at school but I never feel inferior or like I was missing out — I was getting enough at the club [Railway Union].

“For me, it worked in my favour. I never got sick of it, never found I didn’t want to go training or was doing too much. I liked the variety; mentally, it was refreshing.”

She hopes that first cap can come soon in the new year but, for now, is simply excited about what 2021 holds.

“The hard work starts now! Everyone has an equal chance now and anything can happen in six months but, whatever happens, the best team will be picked.”