Michael “Mitch” Darling represented Ireland in the men’s hockey tournament at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

A forward from Sandyford, Co. Dublin, Darling attended Wesley College, where in 2005 he scored the winning goal as Wesley defeated St Andrew’s in the Leinster Schools Senior Cup final – a team that included fellow future Olympians Alan Sothern and David Fitzgerald. He made his senior Ireland debut against England in 2006 aged 18 and went on to accumulate 183 caps and 51 goals over a 12-year international career.

He played his club hockey throughout with Three Rock Rovers, winning the All-Ireland Club Championship in 2008 alongside Kyle Good, and the Irish Senior Cup and EY Champions Trophy multiple times. He also had club spells in Belgium and the Netherlands. He was part of the Ireland squad that won bronze at the 2015 EuroHockey Nations Championship and represented Ireland at the 2018 World Cup in Bhubaneswar before retiring from international hockey in early 2019.