Mr Dave Mahedy

In 1974 a naive 18-year-old Dave Mahedy left Dublin with an ambitious dream of living an exciting and successful life totally dedicated to sport. Fast-forward almost half a century and the face we have grown to know so well around the UL campus, even to this day in his retirement, has achieved that very ambition and so much more.

Graduating in 1978 from the National College of Physical Education (NCPE), which was located on the now University of Limerick Campus, Dave Mahedy says that after identifying Limerick as his destination to study for a degree in Physical Education, he knew this would be the ideal foundation to set in motion an amazing journey in Sport and Recreation and for him to be “privileged” to end up working in his dream job at UL. 

In life, timing is everything and being part of the initial golden era of Physical Education amid so many elite sportspeople during his four years at NCPE was the catalyst in opening doors for Dave and being accepted in the new world of professional sport in Ireland. 

League of Ireland club, Limerick United was the first door that opened to allow his newly learned skills to be put to the test assisting manager Eoin Hand resulting in a Championship (1979-80) and FAI Cup (1982) triumphs plus three European campaigns that literally set the ball rolling for a life fulfilling role in preparing squads in a variety of sporting codes. 

Soccer squads including managing the Ireland Junior International Team (1990-92), St Patrick’s Athletic with two League Championships and a League Cup (1997-2001), Cork City (2001-04) with three European qualifications and Director of Football at Treaty United (2019-22) are all accolades that Dave can call his own.  

Rugby squads under the guidance of the prominent sports director included, the 4-in-a-row Shannon RFC (1995-98), two European Cup wins with Munster (1997-2008) and 2nd Division Champions with Old Crescent (1993-95).

In the world of GAA, Dave’s influence was evident with many squads including two Munster Championships with Limerick Senior Hurlers (1994-96), one Munster and four Senior County Championships with Ballybrown (1989-91), Patrickswell (1997-98), UL GAA 1997-98) and UL Camogie Ashbourne Cup winners in 1995, not to forget the Castletroy Golf Club Munster Senior Cup winners in 2007 and 2008. 

However, to top that list for Dave came the honour of starting the first Special Olympics Club in Lisnagry, Limerick in 1979. This would introduce so many special people into a rewarding new world of sport and the subsequent hosting of three Special Olympics National Games on the UL Campus. 

Appointed Director, Sport and Recreation following the merger of Thomond College into University of Limerick (1991) opened amazing opportunities for Dave to develop a sporting programme on campus that would become the envy of the third-level sector. 

An organisational belief in the importance of sport and recreation allied to full executive support allowed the twin-track approach of targeting campus and public sport as being the way forward. 

This unique departure allowed the construction of multiple World Class self-funding facilities most notably Ireland's first 50m Olympic-sized swimming pool in 2002 on campus. This holistic approach that catered for the needs of everybody from “the basic beginner to the Olympic athlete in the same facility and at the same time” became the reality and not just a sound bite.
There is no doubt that Dave and the team around him became the cornerstone in the birth of “Ireland's Sporting Campus” and what would go on to position University of Limerick as a role model in not just Physical Education and Sports Science but also in the High Performance and Inclusive Sport all on the one sports specific Campus. 

Munster Rugby, Swim Ireland, and Athletic Ireland’s High-Performance Centres are classic examples of this planned environment that offers everybody, especially UL Students the twin-track pathway of Sport and Education on University of Limerick’s Campus.

Having never worked a day in your life because you consider your job a hobby and having the freedom to be ultra creative on and off the field of play allowed the naive 18-year-old to achieve his life’s ambition in his adopted Limerick. 

Being in the right place at the right time helps enormously but being part of a progressive sports team that encouraged bold innovation was the real story that delivered Dave’s ambitions and allowed him to say it was a privilege.