ANTRIM Road native Niamh Cooper will spend part of her 30th birthday playing netball against world champions New Zealand in Northern Ireland’s opening match at the Commonwealth Games next Friday.

The Warriors face a daunting task against top-class opponents at the NEC in Birmingham but nobody will fight harder than the fiercely combative Cooper, a woman who is well used to pressurised situations in her professional life too.

“It’s maybe not your usual celebration, but there could be worse ways to spend my birthday, like another hard day in A&E.  I really enjoy my job but the numbers coming through the doors are rising and each shift tends to be pretty tough” reflects Doctor Cooper.

Unlike her Northern Ireland captain and fellow medic Caroline O’Hanlon, who has continued to commute from here to play for Manchester Thunder, Cooper relocated across the water to tie in with her British SuperLeague commitments at Surrey Storm.

She swapped working in a hospital in her native Belfast for a job at Royal Surrey, living with a couple of Storm team-mates including Aussie defender Leah Middleton, and that move has worked well for a sportswoman famed for her impressive physique and ferocious intensity.

“The hospital is across the road from Storm’s base at Surrey Sports Park so it’s ideal in that sense.  I’m working part-time, which allows me to train as much as I do.  The hospitals both there and back home have been very supportive.

“Because of focusing on netball too, I’m maybe not actively pushing forward now with my goal to become an A&E Consultant, but see myself as very lucky being able to ride both horses, though I think the NHS is on its knees at the minute and that’s such a shame to see.”

Signed on the back of her 2019 World Cup performances, Cooper’s first season at Storm featured just four rounds of fixtures due to the first coronavirus shutdown which led to the 2020 SuperLeague being suspended and then abandoned.

But she established herself as a virtual ever-present first choice at wing defence last year, albeit Storm struggled and finished second from bottom of the table, before being given the honour of the vice-captaincy for the campaign just ended.

It was much more encouraging than the previous one and, although the Surrey side ended up seventh in the table, they took some major scalps such as beating Team Bath away and Cooper won Player of the Match against 2021 semi-finalists Leeds Rhinos.

The typically pumped-up Cooper’s positivity, intensity and enthusiasm make her a firm favourite with Storm’s irrepressible player-coach Mikki Austin and Niamh is fulsome in her stated admiration for the franchise’s supremo.

“I have a lot to thank Storm and Mikki for.  She took a punt on me after that 2019 World Cup, where I wasn’t a stand-out player. I was grateful for the opportunity, even looking long-term towards helping preparations for these Commonwealth Games.

“Previously I’ve gone into major tournaments with Northern Ireland feeling nervous due to a relative lack of exposure to such high-intensity netball but, this time, having accumulated considerable SuperLeague experience should stand to me.

“Improving myself for international netball was a significant factor in me signing for Storm because I wanted to gain valuable experience but it has long since become massively important to me in its own right rather than just some means to an end.

“I’ve been embraced by Storm and really bought into the culture.  Commitment and hard work are in my nature so the effort from me was always guaranteed but I really feel at home there, have made good friends and want to win with them and for our fans.

“Last year’s results were disappointing but we’ve made real progress this past season and are well-placed to keep building.  I like Mikki’s vision and absolutely back her to win a SuperLeague title in the years ahead especially with how she’s strengthening the squad.”

Niamh Cooper talking to Sky Sports after her Player of the Match performance for Surrey Storm in their victory over Leeds Rhinos in this season's British SuperLeague
2Gallery

Niamh Cooper talking to Sky Sports after her Player of the Match performance for Surrey Storm in their victory over Leeds Rhinos in this season's British SuperLeague

Bringing in Uganda captain Proscovia Peace for the 2022 season was a serious statement of intent and added to a cosmopolitan Storm squad also featuring Zimbabwe skipper Felisitus Kwangwa, Aussie Middleton and two NI internationals, Cooper and Emma Magee.

“It’s just been nice having someone else from Belfast who understands what it’s like being away from home.  It may be a short distance compared to Peace or Leah, but being away from home is still away from home and needs adjusting to,” Cooper reflects.

“I was very much a Belfast woman and a home bird but Covid was a blessing in disguise as it made me spread my wings.  The pandemic made the logistics of commuting more problematic so that kind of forced my hand to move over and it has been a good decision.

“I’ll always be Belfast through-and-through, that’s home, and I’m exceptionally proud to wear the green dress of Northern Ireland but I’ve made great friends (over there) and enjoy the job that I’m in too, so it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice for netball.”

“The Europeans may be tougher but you don’t get the same media interest as the Commonwealths,” he accepts.

“I’m hoping to go and win a gold here, but I know India, England and Scotland will be strong. It depends on how the draw goes but I’d want to go to the final.”