Personal
 Tennis
I enjoy playing tennis as a pastime. I have played since I was a kid, and have played on many teams and in many competitions. I played on the Connaught Junior tennis team for Interprovincials for five years (1999 team photo 1, photo 2), being the number one in my age group from the ages of 13 to 18. I also captained my school team (St. Gerald's Castlebar) to four consecutive Connaught Schools titles and to the finals of the Irish schools tennis competitions. Having played with the Castlebar tennis club as a junior, and the UCD tennis team for 3 years I now play with the Brookfield tennis club, which celebrated it's 100 year history in 2006. We are currently in Class 2 in all of the Dublin leagues. Click for a photos of a crazy UCD tennis trip to Groningen, Netherlands. photo 1 photo 2 or a picture of Laura and I at an Intervarsities tennis competition, and another tennis photo at the 2007 Happy Hearts fundraising competition in Carrickmines. Here are some action shots of me playing in the final of the graded section of the 2007 Lansdowne "East of Ireland" Championships photo 1 photo 2. See my Photo Gallery for pictures of our trip to the 2007 Wimbledon Championships, which I would highly recommend to everybody. A beautiful new set of books on the history of Irish tennis is available here.
I am also a Tennis Ireland qualified tennis coach and have coached tennis to players of all standards and ages. I did this mainly as a part time job while in school and I very much so enjoyed the experience. Since then I have worked as a line calling official at professional tennis tournaments on the ATP Challenger circuit and at Davis Cup matches with the Irish Tennis Umpires Association (ITUA).
As a big fan of professional tennis I follow both the ATP events and Irish futures events. After attending Wimbledon in 2007 and Roland Garros in 2008 I now plan to attend the US Open in 2008. My favourite player is Rafael Nadal (Roger who?), here is a photo of him winning the Battle of the Surfaces Exhibition against Roger Federer on a specially built half-grass/half-clay court.
There is also a very high standard of tennis being played in the various Irish competitions. Anyone interested in playing or spectating should consult the Tennis Ireland website.
If you are interested in taking up tennis, or encouraging your kids to play, and are living in the North West region I recommend contacting AllWin Tennis.
Food
I absolutely adore good food. My favourites are spicy full flavoured dishes like Indian or Italian. I eat out often in Dublin and am yet to find a restaurant that fully satisfies me. Please contact me if you have any suggestions. I regularly get a feed of pub grub (Carvery etc.) in O Neills on Suffolk street, which I recommend as the best pub grub in Dublin. Very good food at a very reasonable price. Here is a link to a website with reviews, menus and special offers for Dublin restaurants DiningTreats.com.
College
I did my undergraduate degree in University College Dublin (UCD) in Mathematical Science. I really enjoyed the four years, as we were a small class and we all got on great. Here is a photo of our class on our graduation day.
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