Offaly men set to compete in Powerchair Football World Cup
Three men from Offaly will compete in the Powerchair Football World Cup in Australia later this month.
Brothers Thomas (22) and Sean Donogher (21) from Kinnitty will join Conor Troy (17) from Kilcormac in the Republic of Ireland powerchair football squad against the world's best powerchair football nations. The 2023 Powerchair Football World Cup will take place in Sydney, Australia from October 15 until October 21. Sean, Thomas and Conor will be flying to Australia today (Friday).
A GoFundMe was previously set up to help raise funds for accommodation and medical equipment and managed to raise over €13,000. The families of the athletes also organised their own fundraisers.
The Irish squad will play their first game against Denmark on October 15 before playing against England. Two games will be played in the World Cup every day until October 19 and then depending on a team's position they may play in the final stages.
This will be Conor's first time to compete in a world cup and Thomas and Sean's second world cup. All three were part of the Ireland team which won a bronze medal at the European Nations Cup in 2019 in Finland. Mike Donogher, father of Sean and Thomas, is Ireland head coach.
The Secretary of the Association of Irish Powerchair Football, Donal Byrne, said that they had to wait such a long time for the World Cup because it was postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that it was hard for the athletes with the “disappointment” but that it gave them “more time to prepare.”
“Everyone's really looking forward to it now,” added Donal.
Ten countries will take part in the World Cup including five from Europe. The Irish squad came 6th in the last World Cup held in Florida, USA in 2019. “We aim to do better than 6th. We want to make the semi-finals and see where we go from there," Donal said.
The Irish powerchair football squad were invited to the Ireland Women's National Team first ever game in the Aviva Stadium against Northern Ireland recently. They had the opportunity to spend time in the green room before the game. “That was nice, to get that send off for the team," Donal explained. Niall Quinn also presented Thomas, Sean and Conor with jerseys a few weeks prior to the match.
The Republic of Ireland powerchair football squad will play a friendly game against New Zealand on October 11 in advance of the competition. All games will be streamed on FIPFA's (the International Federation of Powerchair Football Association) YouTube channel.
Tullamore Credit Union sponsored the Offaly men's endeavours by providing extra tops and a gear bag.
Powerchair football is the only active team participation sport for people who use electric wheelchairs or those who have limited movement in a manual wheelchair, and it’s usually played in an indoor court with matches consisting of two teams of four players each and a ball. The unique nature of powerchair football allows all ages, disabilities and genders to compete together.