'There was lots happening in my head but I couldn't really communicate any of it'

Niamh McGettigan spends her week looking at the science behind medical products. She helps patients who are malnourished because of disease, and those with swallowing difficulties.

The Wicklow footballer places a particular emphasis on cancer, hoping to change the mindset surrounding diet and the diagnosis which affects almost 45,000 people in Ireland every year.

"That would be one of my key areas of interest, nutrition in cancer," said McGettigan."Before I started working in medical nutrition, I did a research project with a lot of advanced cancer patients, seeing the role for nutrition. Just raising awareness of the importance of nutrition in cancer.

"There is kind of a misunderstanding in the general public, often patients that have cancer lose weight and it's really important for them not to be losing weight during that time.

"It’s the opposite to what everybody has heard all of their life when they get a cancer diagnosis. For cancer patients, it’s really, really important for them to maintain their weight because that kind of unintentional weight loss can result in loss of muscle mass which can impact then on their treatment outcomes.

"It’s really important to keep your weight stable and to keep your strength as much as you can. For some cancer patients, it will be about minimising the weight loss as much as possible. But sometimes it’s kind of seen as a good thing when somebody loses weight.

"Really, in cancer patients, it’s more ideal to keep your weight stable and to slow down any weight loss."

The 27-year-old was born in Donegal but moved to Wicklow soon after that and has gone on to represent her county for over 10 years at adult level.

She is inquisitive by nature and having suffered a couple of concussions over the