Two Irish women have landed a massive €140,000 Sky technology grant after coming up with brilliant inventions.

Mayo woman, Mary Murphy, impressed with her ingenious idea to mark sheep using a new specially designed gun.

The 20-year-old grew up on a farm with her four siblings but saw how difficult marking sheep was on her own farm so she simply invented a new way of doing it.

She designed a Sheep Marking Gun which is a single-handed device, allowing the farmer to hold the sheep in one hand and mark it with the other.

Mary Murphy. Pic: Sky

Mary plans to continue engineering agritech products, including a GPS tracker system for sheep to prevent them being stolen or attacked by predators.

Mary, said: ‘Sky is making huge efforts to support women in technology and that encouraged me to apply. Our goal is to use technology to solve simple problems that farmers encounter and make their day-to-day lives easier’.

A second Irish woman Rachel Clancy from Limerick was also awarded a grant.

The 27-year-old from Limerick has a degree in Graphic Design and a master’s  in Independent Game Design.

Rachel Clancy. Pic: Sky

Rachel developed a prototype game called ‘Get Closer’ with her girlfriend Ida.

Get Closer is a text adventure game where players open dialogue with a forest creature who needs their help.

The game teaches young children how to identify and cope with difficult emotions such as sadness and fear as a way to talk about bigger mental health issues.

Rachel hopes that the game will help to bridge the gap between education and mental health to improve support and resources.

She also wants to be a role model to those with learning differences, and prove that having ADHD shouldn’t stop you from pursuing a career in tech and coding

Rachel, said: ‘People with ADHD tend to think that something involving logical thinking isn’t for them. I’m happy to be represented as a coder with a learning difference as I think there isn’t a lot of visibility for people like us.

Pic: Sky

‘Sky is a tech company, I’m hoping to make the most out of the professionals that work there and get a better idea of how to optimise, build and distribute the game.’

Sky’s Group Chief Information Security Officer, Elaine Bucknor, said: ‘I was blown away with the ingenuity of the projects presented and the calibre of talent and creativity.

‘It’s widely acknowledged that attracting women into technology is a challenge, so we have a responsibility to bring about change. Boys are more than twice as likely to be encouraged to work in tech, so it’s little wonder that half the girls we spoke to had ruled out working in the industry by the time they reached 18-years-old.

‘Our Women in Technology Scholars programme enables us to nurture new talent and highlight inspiring role models to encourage others to follow.’