Louise aims for best finish at Glasgow Games

Louise, who is a member of the Downshire Rifle Club in Hillsborough, hopes to bring home a medal for Northern Ireland.

“It’s such a fantastic experience to represent your country at that sort of standard,” Louise said, speaking from Scotland in the midst of a busy training schedule.

Louise is no stranger to the Commonwealths. She competed in Melbourne in 2006 and in Delhi in 2010, picking up credible finishes in the mid-teens on both occasions.

However, she’s going into her third games in confident mood and is hoping for her best ever finish come the big event on Monday, July 28: “I’d like to do better than I did in either of the last Copmmonwealth Games. Training’s going well but it’s all on the day really. It’s about how you can control the nerves and knowing that you can do it.

“I would hope to perform on the same level that I have been doing this year. If I do, I might be in with a shout of something but I’ll just go and enjoy the experience. I’ll do the best I can and hopefully that will be enough to get somewhere.

“There will be double gold medallists from the last games there and people who compete in World Cups. I’ll be up against a very high standard. It’s actually the highest we can go because women’s shooting isn’t in the Olympics.”

Louise was already at the Commonwealth shooting venue at the Barry Buddon Shooting Centre in Carnoustie last week but, before she made the trip over, she got all the help she needed from her home club in Hillsborough.

“They have been very good,” she said. “They’ve been coming down to give me extra time to train and they’ve just been very supportive.

Louise will compete for honours in Carnoustie on Monday 28 July in the Small Bore Rifle Prone event, which will last just one hour.

It’ll all be over in a bang but here’s hoping Louise will be on target for Northern Ireland.