Orla Prendergast named Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the month – The Irish Times
At the pace of her footballing development a few years ago, Orla Prendergast could well have been in contention for a place in the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup squad, which travels to Australia this summer.
Looking back to the end of 2018, where she played in an Ireland Under-17 team that gave Albania a record-breaking 14-0 defeat in a EURO qualifier. Four of the players on the day – Jess Ziu, Emily Whelan, Aoibheann Clancy and Éabha O’Mahony – won senior caps under Vera Pauw.
But Prendergast chose to shift her sporting focus to cricket when it began to clash with football and you can’t imagine the 20-year-old regretting it. After all, she was allowed to play at a World Cup in February.
From a sporting all-rounder, she is now one of the most promising cricket all-rounders in the game. Her performances at that T20 World Cup in South Africa earned her a spot on the team of the tournament.
The bulk of this selection understandably consisted of players from winners Australia, runners-up South Africa and semi-finalists England and India. So for Prendergast, finding herself in such august company was a good sign of how highly respected she is.
There’s no sugarcoating the pill, Ireland’s four defeats in the group stage of the tournament were a major disappointment, even if all opponents ranked in the top seven in the world. After beating an admittedly underpowered Australia in a warm-up game – an underpowered Australia was still better than most – they had high hopes for an upset or two.
It wasn’t to be, but Prendergast still stood out with bats and balls, not least with their 61 innings against the West Indies. She averaged 27.25 over the four games while conceding three wickets.
That form has earned the UCD sports science student a full-time multi-year professional contract with Cricket Ireland as announced earlier this week, captain Laura Delany, Gaby Lewis, Leah Paul and Arlene Kelly are the only others to have been included in that group.
She may not be traveling to Australia for the World Cup this summer, but Prendergast’s sporting choices are working well.
Previous monthly winners (awards run from December 2022 to November 2023 inclusive):
December: Eilish and Roisin Flanagan (track and field)
The combined efforts of the Tyrone twins, who finished 11th and 12th, helped Ireland to a bronze medal at the European Cross Country Championships in Italy despite missing out on Fionnuala McCormack and Ciara Mageean.
January: Rhasidat Adeleke (athletics)
where do you start She beat her own Irish 200m indoor record by a fair chunk, surpassed the 21-year-old Irish 400m indoor mark by a second and then lowered it again with the (temporarily) fastest women’s 400m run ever recorded in the American indoor track and field. And we’re only in the first week of March.