Famed former Ireland and Arsenal striker Niall Quinn, who has also found success as a manager and businessman, can now add a Masters' of History to his list of life achievements.
Today he graduated from DCU, and with it fulfilled a 40-year-old promise he made to his mother Mary when he was 16 years of age.
When Quinn left Dublin in 1983 to join Arsenal, with only the Inter-Cert completed, he promised his Mum that he would complete his education in England, which of course he never did.
He explains how his studious family members, wife Gillian, son Mikey, and in particular his daughter Aisling, pushed him into going back to school.
“I found myself living in a house of study! They were all studying and I found myself as the odd one out. Aisling is a tremendous force of nature and she kept pushing me and told me I would love it. Gillian and Mikey kept chipping in too.
“When I left for Arsenal I had done what used to be called the Inter Cert. I got a B in history and I was devastated it was not an A because I loved the subject. To me history was fun and it made me tick.
Niall Quinn The Scholar
Niall Quinn with his Wife Gillian who recieved a Masters of Arts in History from DCU during their October Graduation Celebrations.
Pic:Kyran O'Brien/DCU
READ HERE: Niall Quinn Never Would Have Allowed 'Sunderland Til I Die' To Be Filmed At The Club
The subject of Quinn's Masters was 1916 Rising revolutionary and former footballer, Oscar Traynor, who also campaigned against the GAA's ban on football.
“[Traynor was] the most important and loudest supporter of football when it came under attack as ‘a foreign game’," explains Quinn.
"That is when the GAA introduced the ban so that people who played soccer were not allowed to take part in Gaelic games and were made to feel less Irish, Oscar Traynor, on numerous occasions, gave strong defence of the game of football on this island and gave great service in an administrative role to the FAI.”
“Oscar Traynor fought publicly over many years for the ban to be lifted. Coming from a GAA background I would not have had the life I did had the ban remained.
"I played for my country and was commended for that but I now know far more about Ireland and that makes me happy. For anyone considering a return to education, I would beseech any person with the slightest itch to go back, to just do it. There is no down side, it is so fulfilling.”
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