Early years, family and education Kirkwood was educated at
Friends' School, Lisburn and
Queen's University Belfast where he studied Economics. In his youth, in addition to playing
field hockey and
cricket, Kirkwood also included played
rugby union, playing for Friends' School, Lisburn in the
Ulster Schools' Cup.
Field hockey career At senior club level, Kirkwood played for
Queen's University, Belfast YMCA and
Lisnagarvey. During his club career he won ten
Irish Senior Cup winners medals. He won his first with Queen's in 1981 and his second with Belfast YMCA in 1985. Then between 1987–88 and 1993–94 he was an ever-present in the Lisnagarvey team that won the cup for seven successive seasons. He won his tenth medal when Lisnagarvey won the cup in 1996–97. Kirkwood was a member of the
Ireland team that were silver medallists at the 1978
EuroHockey Junior Championship. Other members of the team included
Martin Sloan,
Billy McConnell and
Stephen Martin. He made his senior debut for Ireland at the age of 18 in 1981. He subsequently represented Ireland at the 1987, 1991 and 1995 Men's
EuroHockey Nations Championships. He also represented Ireland at the
1990 Men's Hockey World Cup. During the latter tournament, during a match against
Canada, Kirkwood sustained a horrific injury when he felt the full force of an opponent's stick in his face. He was taken to hospital and missed the rest of the tournament. In 2014 Kirkwood was inducted into the
Irish Hockey Association Hall of Fame. Kirkwood made his debut for
Great Britain at the
1987 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy tournament. He subsequently represented Great Britain at the
1988 Summer Olympics, winning a gold medal.
Cricket career Kirkwood began playing for
Lisburn Cricket Club as a schoolboy. In 1985 his man of the match performance helped the club win the
NCU Challenge Cup, defeating
NICC in the final. He also represented Ulster Country at senior interprovincial level. Kirkwood represented
Ireland at schoolboy, under-19 and under-23 levels before making his senior international debut on 17 August 1983 against
Gloucestershire. During the same tour, Kirkwood also featured in matches against
Wales and the
MCC. Kirkwood made 27 runs at an average of 8.6, with his high score of 27 coming against Gloucestershire. == Personal life ==