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Red Bull gives wings to Irish hockey

Red Bull today announced its support for the Irish Women’s Hockey Team, also giving wings to top goalkeeper Ayeisha McFerran (25) as the latest Irish athlete to join the Red Bull family.

Red Bull will give wings to the Irish Women’s Hockey Team as Official Energy Drink partner, supporting players and coaching staff in reaching their peak performance, providing Red Bull product and equipment during training as they prepare for the upcoming EuroHockey Championships.

The team will be able to access world class tools and facilities including sharing of knowledge and expertise from Red Bull’s global network of experts and it’s state of the art Athlete Performance centre in Austria.

The Green Army with their new set of wings. Picture: Billy Pollock

For Ayeisha, a star both at home and on the International hockey scene, she will join fellow goalkeepers, Maddie Hinch (Great Britain) and Anne Veenendaal (Netherlands) among other global sporting stars such as Neymar Jr, Max Vertsappen, Lindsey Vonn and Irish athletes Conor Shanahan, Thomas Barr, Greg Callaghan and Conor Maguire as part of the Red Bull family.

Ayeisha and Red Bull have developed a personalised helmet based on the iconic Red Bull rhombus design which she will now sport in all major tournaments.

Ayeisha made her senior debut for Ireland in 2014 and has since established herself as the national team’s first-choice goalkeeper with 100 caps to date. Regarded as a shoot-out specialist Ayeisha boasts an impressive career to date, nominated World Goalkeeper of the Year in 2018 and 2019, winning FIH Hockey World League tournaments in 2015 and 2017, the 2015 Euro Hockey Championship II and more recently, taking home a silver medal and honoured as Goalkeeper of the Tournament at the 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup. Ayeisha has played her club hockey at Kampoong in the Netherlands since August 2019.

Ayeisha commented: “It is very surreal. Knowing how big the Red Bull brand is here in Ireland and across the globe, and how much they get involved and support their athletes, it is such a buzz to know that I’ll be a part of that story. I am always trying to up my game, and this is an opportunity to really take my career to the next level. I’m so stoked to become part of the Red Bull athlete line-up.”