Dora Gorman (born 18 February 1993) is an Irish radiologist and

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Peamount United of the Women's National League (WNL). In 2010, she was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the Republic of Ireland U-17 squad who were runners-up in the

2010 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The 2010 UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship football tournament took place between 8 April and 26 June. Germany was the defending champion. Spain won the final on penalties 4–1 against the Republic of Ireland. Spain, Ireland and third placed Ger ...

and quarter-finalists in the

2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2010 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup women's football tournament was the second such tournament, and was held in Trinidad and Tobago from 5 to 25 September 2010. Sixteen teams, comprising representatives from all six confederations, took part in ...

. As well as being a

medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

, Gorman is an all-round sportswoman. She has also represented the

Ireland women's national field hockey team The Ireland women's national field hockey team is organised by Hockey Ireland and represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in international women's field hockey competitions, including the Women's Hockey World Cup and the W ...

at various levels and has played senior

inter-county Inter-county, is Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) List of Gaelic games terminology, terminology which refers to competitions or matches between County (Gaelic games), counties, as used in Gaelic games (differently from legal counties). The term c ...

ladies' Gaelic football Ladies' Gaelic football () is an Irish team sport for women. It is the women's equivalent of Gaelic football. Ladies' football is organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. Two teams of 15 players kick or hand-pass a round ball toward ...

for the Galway county team.

Early years

Gorman grew up in

Barna Barna (Bearna officially and in Irish) is a coastal village on the R336 regional road in Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. 7 km west of the centre of Galway city, it has become a satellite village of Galway. The village is Irish speaki ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

and is the daughter of Michael and Margaret Gorman. She attended Dominican College, Taylor's Hill,

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

where she studied for her

Leaving Cert A secondary school leaving qualification is a document signifying that the holder has fulfilled any secondary education requirements of their locality, often including the passage of a final qualification examination. For each leaving certificate ...

. In 2011, she was awarded a medal for achieving the joint highest mark in the Leaving Certificate Physics Examination in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. While still at school, Gorman played

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

with Salthill Devon,

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

with Salthill-Knocknacarra GAA and

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

with Greenfields Hockey Club. Gorman represented

Galway GAA The Galway County Boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) () or Galway GAA are one of the 32 county boards in Ireland; they are responsible for Gaelic games in County Galway, and for the Galway county teams. Galway is one of the few ...

at under-12, under-14 and under-16 levels. In July 2010 Gorman played for Galway in the

All-Ireland Under-18 Ladies' Football Championship The All-Ireland Under-18 Ladies' Football Championship is a "knockout" competition in the game of Gaelic football played by women in Ireland. The series of games are organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association The Ladies' Gaelic Footb ...

final, scoring 1–1 as she helped them defeat a

Donegal GAA The Donegal County Board () or Donegal GAA is one of 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Donegal. The County Board is responsible for prepari ...

team that featured Ciara Grant. Together with

Julie-Ann Russell Julie-Ann Russell (born 28 March 1991) is an Irish retired footballer who played for Women's National League club Galway United W.F.C. In 2014, Russell was voted both FAI Senior Women's International Player of the Year and the Women's Nati ...

, Gorman also played Gaelic football for Galway at senior level in the

Ladies' National Football League The Ladies' National Football League is an annual inter-county ladies' Gaelic football tournament, secondary to the All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship. It is competed for annually by the county teams of Ireland. Kerry county ladies ...

. Gorman also played for the

at under-16 and under-18 level as well as for the development A team. She was initially selected to represent Ireland at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics but subsequently had to withdraw due to other sporting commitments.

Club career

Salthill Devon

In 2007, together with

, Gorman was a member of the Salthill Devon team that won the Under 16 Girls FAI Cup. In the final at

Tolka Park Tolka Park () is an Ireland, Irish association football ground located in the Northside Dublin, north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Irelan ...

, Salthill Devon defeated Stella Maris 3–2 after extra–time. In 2008 Gorman and Salthill Devon retained the cup after defeating St Joseph's 6–0 in final. In 2010 Gorman was also a member of the Salthill Devon squad that reached the

FAI Women's Cup The Football Association of Ireland Women's Cup is the senior cup competition for women's association football in Ireland. It is commonly known as the Women's FAI Cup, the WFAI Cup, or prior to 2001, the Ladies FAI Cup or the LFAI Cup. Organised ...

final, although she did not play the final itself.

Peamount United

Between

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Gorman played for Peamount United in the Women's National League. She played for United during

2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League was the eleventh edition of the European women's championship for football clubs. The final was held in the Olympiastadion in Munich, Germany on 17 May 2012. As in the past two Champions League season ...

campaign and during the inaugural 2011–12 Women's National League season. Gorman scored twice during the regular season as United won the title, finishing three points clear of second placed

Raheny United Raheny United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Raheny, Dublin. Raheny United was founded in 1994 following the amalgamation of Raheny Boys and Dunseedy United. In 2017–18 their senior men's team compete in the Prem ...

. United also completed a league double by winning the

WNL Cup The League of Ireland Women's Premier Division (; sponsor name SSE Airtricity League Women's Premier Division) is a professional women's association football league in Ireland, organised by the League of Ireland, which began play in the 2023 ...

. Gorman missed much of

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season because of injury but returned in 2013–14 to help United finish as league runners-up.

UCD Waves

In 2011 Gorman began studying medicine at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. Gorman also played association football for UCD at intervarsity level, playing in teams alongside

Siobhán Killeen Siobhán Killeen (born 21 September 1995) is a Republic of Ireland women's international footballer. She has also played for UCD, Raheny United and Shelbourne Ladies. In 2010, she was a member of the Republic of Ireland U-17 squad that were ...

and Ciara Grant. In the 2013–14 season Gorman helped UCD win the WSCAI Premier Division. In 2014–15 when UCD Waves entered a team in the Women's National League, they also appointed the former Peamount United manager

Eileen Gleeson Eileen Gleeson is an Irish association football manager who was most recently head coach of the Republic of Ireland women's team. She has also held the role of the Football Association of Ireland's (FAI) Head of Women and Girls Football, as wel ...

to take charge of the team. Gorman was one of several United players to follow Gleeson to Waves. Others included Aine O'Gorman,

Karen Duggan Karen Duggan (born 29 May 1991) is an Irish footballer who plays for Peamount United of the Women's National League (WNL). She has previously played for UCD Waves and the Republic of Ireland women's national football team. Between 2013 and 2 ...

, Julie-Ann Russell, Chloe Mustaki and Emily Cahill. Gorman also played for the UCD ladies hockey team that won the 2012 Irish Senior Cup. Her teammates included Chloe Watkins, Deirdre Duke and Anna O'Flanagan. She graduated with her medical degree in 2018 and began working at the Mater Hospital, but her sporting activities had already been put on hold for more than a year while she attended work placements in England and America. In 2019 she played Gaelic football for Galway.

Return to Peamount

In November 2020, Gorman made a playing comeback with Peamount United. She was a 77th-minute substitute for

Niamh Farrelly Niamh Farrelly (born 15 April 1999) is an Irish professional footballer who plays for Barclays Women's Championship Womens Championship side London City Lionesses. She previously played for Glasgow City of the Scottish Women's Premier League ...

in a 3–0 home win over

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

. It was her first appearance in the Women's National League for more than four years.

International career

Gorman has represented the

at under-15, under-17, under-19, university and senior level. In 2010 Gorman captained a Republic of Ireland U-17 squad that featured

Megan Campbell Megan Campbell (born 28 June 1993) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Women's Championship club London City Lionesses and as a left back & center back for the Republic of Ireland women's national football team, R ...

Denise O'Sullivan Denise Rebecca O'Sullivan (born 4 February 1994) is an Irish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) club North Carolina Courage, which she captains, and the Republic of ...

, Ciara Grant and

Clare Shine Clare Shine (born 18 May 1995) is an Irish former international footballer who most recently played for SWPL club Glasgow City. She previously played for Women's National League (WNL) club Cork City. She made her debut for the Republic of I ...

and finished as runners-up in the

and quarter-finalists in the

. Gorman made her senior international debut on 22 October 2011, in a UEFA Women's Euro 2013 qualifier against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium () is an List of association football stadiums in the Republic of Ireland, association football stadium in Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of ...

. She created the Republic of Ireland's second goal for Ciara Grant a minute after coming on as an 86th-minute substitute. In December 2011, together with

Louise Quinn Louise Catherine Quinn (born 17 June 1990) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. At club level Quinn began her senior career with Peamount United, captaining the club to the inaugural 2011–12 Women's Natio ...

Grace Murray Grace Murray (born 26 May 1989) is an Irish people, Irish international Association football, footballer who played for Shelbourne Ladies F.C., Shelbourne Ladies of the Women's National League (Ireland), Women's National League (WNL), as well a ...

, Megan Campbell and Ciara Grant, Gorman was included in an FAI scholarship programme for potential senior women's internationals. Gorman has subsequently represented the Republic of Ireland during their

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

and

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship organised by UEFA for the ...

qualifying campaigns. Gorman also represented Ireland at the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2015 Summer Universiade The 2015 Summer Universiade (), officially known as the XXVIII Summer Universiade () and also known as Gwangju 2015 () was a multi-sport event for student and youth athletes sanctioned by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), hel ...

Honours

Association football

;Individual *

FAI International Football Awards The FAI International Football Awards is an awards evening held to honour the best Republic of Ireland international footballers of the year. Senior International awards Senior International Player of the Year Senior Women's International Pl ...

Under-17 Women's International Player of the Year ** 2009 ; Peamount United * Women's National League **''Winners'': 2011–12: 1 **''Runners-up'':

, 2013–14: 2 *

** ''Winners'':

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

: 2 ; UCD Waves/UCD * Women's National League **''Runners-up'': 2014–15: 1 *

**''Runners-up'': 2014: 1 *

**''Runners-up'':

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

: 1 *WSCAI Premier Division **''Winners'': 2013–14: 1 ; Salthill Devon *Under 16 Girls FAI Cup ** ''Winners'': 2007, 2008: 2 ; Republic of Ireland U-17 *

UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Women's Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship, is an annual European championship football tournament, organized by UEFA, for national teams of women under age seventeen. The tournament was first play ...

**''Runner Up'':

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Gaelic football

;Individual * Connacht Young Player of the Year ** 2008 ;

**''Winners'': 2010

Field Hockey

;Individual * IHA U-18 Player of the Year ** 2010 ; UCD * Irish Senior Cup ** 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorman, Dora 1993 births Living people Association footballers from County Galway Republic of Ireland women's association footballers Republic of Ireland women's international footballers Salthill Devon F.C. players Peamount United F.C. players DLR Waves players League of Ireland Women's Premier Division players Salthill-Knocknacarra Gaelic footballers Galway inter-county ladies' Gaelic footballers Ladies' Gaelic footballers who switched code Irish female field hockey players Alumni of University College Dublin Women's association football midfielders UCD Ladies' Hockey Club players UCD Women's Soccer Club players 21st-century Irish medical doctors Irish women medical doctors Republic of Ireland women's youth international footballers Irish field hockey players Sportspeople from County Galway People from Barna, County Galway Medical doctors from County Galway 21st-century Irish sportswomen