All Ireland Champion in our midst: Kayla O'Connor final year BSc Medical & Health Sciences

9 Feb 2024

Congratulations to Kayla O'Connor fourth year Medical and Health Science student and Cork ladies Intermediate Football All Ireland Club Champion winner at Croke Park 18th December 2023 

Kayla took time out of her busy schedule to bring her winning trophies to the research labs in APC where she is carrying out research with Dr Rachel Moloney as part of her final year project for her BSc Medical and Sciences degree.  Kayla chatted about her football career and the overlaps between performing at elite level in sport while balancing the commitments of a full-time degree.

Kayla says that she had played football for a while as a child but it was as a student in Glounthaune Scoil Náisiúnta an Chroí Naofa that Principal Damien Irwin spotted her talent and invited her to play on the Sciath Na Scoil team and also to join the Erin's Own, Kayla said that she 'fell in love with football straight away' and in her first year with Erins Own won the Under 12 County Final. She transferred to her local Glanmire club when she moved to secondary school, and that year reached the All-Ireland Feile final U14. Kayla also played Inter County with Cork U14, U16 and U18, and was also invited to play with the older team to win a Junior-A All Ireland Medal in 2019. Moving to Intermediate level the Cork team reached three successive county finals and were beaten each year, heartbreakingly losing the 2022 final to free kicks after extra time. 2023 was to be their year, with the Glanmire team winning the Intermediate Cup final in October and following that the Championship Munster Final. For the All-Ireland quarter final, the team flew to London to progress to the semifinals, before finally winning the All-Ireland Club Ladies Football Intermediate Championship Final – Glanmire (Cork) 5-8 Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins (Leitrim) 1-6 in Croke Park on the 18th of December 2023. 

2023 was to be a an especially busy year, as a fourth year Medical and Health Science student, and with the Glanmire football team's determination to win in 2023 Championship, it was going to be challenging. The football campaign began in January 2023 and intense training 3-4 times a week. As college started back in September and as she progressed in the championship her college work of lectures continuous assessments and assignments and work on her final year project all had to be balanced with the increasing training schedule, travel and matches. Kayla laughs that she was constantly on her laptop while travelling and at any breaks between training. The All-Ireland Final in Croke Park on December 18th occurred in the middle of her Christmas exams! 

Kayla describes how over the years, she focused on time management, while succeeding in her degree was always her number 1 priority, she took very seriously the commitment that she had made to playing football, not only for my love of the sport, but also for the friendships and social connections and the responsibility of being on such a loyal and competitive team. Rather than distracting her from her studies Kayla said that by keeping active and playing sport, it enhanced her study, improved her focus, attention, and memory. And she said that by taking care of herself in terms of adequate, sleep, nutrition, rest, and recovery were vital not only for Gaelic football but also for college, so they really went hand in hand, both positively impacting the other. Approaching the All-Ireland final and exam week, Kayla said that if she wasn’t in the library, she was training!

Passionate about her Medical and Health Sciences degree and the role that sport has played in her life, Kayla said that with her knowledge of medical and health sciences, she was able to further enhance her performance using materials that she had learned in the different course modules, and also utilising her research skills to learn more about different areas that were interesting to her, such as sleep, nutrition, and sports science.

'The Medical and Health Sciences degree covers modules across multiple disciplines, which has allowed me a taster of different areas and helped me find my passion for research. I would love to do further studies on preventative medicine, allowing the translation of medical research into real life, so people have the tools and knowledge to improve their health in all aspects, especially the likes of preventing cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease, and neurodegenerative diseases.

I am very happy to have Dr Rachel Moloney as my final year project supervisor, and I am currently working on project based in the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis lab in APC Microbiome Ireland, where I am looking at models of stress, a subject which really interests me.'

We wish Kayla every success in her studies and football career.

Links:

Glanmire push past previous heartache and head to London as Munster champions (echolive.ie)

Abbie O'Mahony inspires Glanmire to Munster glory over Monagea (echolive.ie)

Goal feast for Glanmire at Croke Park as they power to All-Ireland title (echolive.ie)

https://www.ucc.ie/en/ck707/

https://www.ucc.ie/en/anatomy/study-medical-and-health-sciences/

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Photograph and news item Bereniece Riedewald