Name: Dora Gorman
Location: Barna
Occupation: Irish Under-17 football team captain/student
Favourite thing about Galway: Blackrock during the summer
Worst thing about Galway: The traffic

Barna native and Irish Under-17 football team captain Dora Gorman has learned to balance her studies with a hectic training schedule.

Seventeen-year-old second level student Dora Gorman has been studying for her fifth year summer exams while training with the Irish team for the semi-finals of the Women's Under-17 European Championships at the Colovray Stadium at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland later this month.

It will be the third time that the Swiss venue has staged the event, with Germany emerging as champions in both previous seasons. The Republic of Ireland squad, lead by Dora, will take on the reigning champions on Tuesday 22 June, while last season's runners-up Spain play against the Netherlands in the first semi-final.

Ireland's qualification is particularly significant as it is the first time that an Irish female soccer team will compete in a final tournament. In recognition of Dora's efforts in leading her squad to the semi-final, the young Galway player was recently announced as the winner of The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council ‘Sportswoman of the Month' for the month of April.

The Sportswoman of the Year Awards recognise the abilities and achievements of women in Irish sports. The awards are held year-round and the judges select a winner each month who excels at her chosen sport. The overall Sportswoman of the Year is then selected from the 12 monthly winners, and is announced in January. Previous winners include boxer Katie Tayor and athlete Derval O'Rourke.

"I'm delighted but it's really on behalf of my team," says Dora of the Sportswoman of the Month award.

Dora began playing soccer while she was still at primary school. She trains with the Salthill Devon team once a week, and has won several All-Ireland titles with the club. The national team also typically meet once or twice a month to train with coach Noel King.

The young Galway sport star's talents extend beyond football however, as she also plays Gaelic football, and began playing hockey with Greenfields when she was just seven.

The Taylor's Hill student also plays hockey with Connacht and Ireland at underage level, and she has previously been shortlisted for the Under-18 Hockey Player of the Year Award.

And sporting prowess seems to run in the family, as Dora's older sister Irene has been selected for the 2009/2010 Irish Under-18 hockey squad. Dora says her training schedule is "tough going", but that she is used to it by now. She and her teammates have become adept at time management and as she says, "You get to be able to plan your time".

The majority of the members of the Irish Under-17 football team are in fifth year and transition year, but some are also studying for their Leaving Certificate, and Dora says that time is always set aside when the girls need to do any extra study or homework on soccer trips.

The squad has travelled to compete in Slovenia and the Ukraine over the past year. Last October during the first qualifying phase of the championship in Slovenia, the squad scored a conclusive victory over the host nation, wining 5-0. They then went on to triumph over Turkey 3-0, and finally beat Denmark 1-0 to progress to the next stage.

During the elite qualifying phase in Ukraine last month the side recorded a 3-1 victory over their hosts, with Dora scoring the opening goal. The team secured a 1-1 draw with Poland and then beat group favourites Sweden, the second-ranked nation in Europe, by two goals to one.

The victory prompted Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport Mary Hanafin to congratulate the squad, saying that it was an historic achievement for an Irish women's team to reach the finals stage, and that it showed great commitment and dedication by all the players and coaching staff.

While Dora says that she has yet to travel with her squad to the US, the home of women's soccer, she may come a step closer to visiting the country if the Irish team finishes in the top three of the four-nation UEFA Women's Under-17 European Championship. The squad will then automatically qualify for the 2010 FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago, which takes place from Sunday 5 to Saturday 25 September.

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