Donal Higgins was looking forward to heading to his family home in Maree, just outside Oranmore, for a good night’s sleep in his own bed last Friday after helping UCD to a 3-2 win over Galway United in the Second Round of the FAI Cup.

The former Republic of Ireland U19 international midfielder spent three-and-a-half years at United, having joined the club’s Academy from his local club, Maree/Oranmore FC, in 2017, before moving to UCD in 2021 on a sports scholarship.

During his time at United, he captained the U17 side to the league semi-final in 2017; while the following year, he was part of the Connacht Schools side to win the interprovincial title.

After he competed his Leaving Cert in Yeats College in Galway City, he put his third level studies on the back burner for a year to play the 2020 season with United. In all, he made 34 senior appearances for United, scoring one goal, before moving to Dublin to begin his studies in physiotherapy, a four year course which he is now half way through.

“So far so good,” he says of his time in UCD, “I enjoying my time up there. I am two years into my course, and have just started the third year placement, so doing placement, training, and football and all is good,” says Higgins, who turns 21 next month.

“I am on placement for the first semester of this year, which is broken up into three stints: I am in Beamount at the moment, then I will move to the Mater, and then Vincents. After that, it will be classes and lectures for second semesters.

“The course is purely physiotherapy, you don’t specialise yet, it covers everything, but the placements are in hospitals, it is the broadest reach and there are so many different strands to it,” he says.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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