Northern Ireland

Cash raised for families of Eoin Hamill and Cillian Draine

 Cillian Draine (left) andEoin Hamill
 Cillian Draine (left) andEoin Hamill  Cillian Draine (left) andEoin Hamill

Online auctions are set to raise thousands for the families of two young Belfast boxers who died in tragic circumstances in recent days.

Eoin Hamill died after being knocked off his bicycle close to the junction of Upper Springfield Road and Norglen Parade shortly after 4.30pm on Friday.

A man aged in his thirties arrested in relation to the collision was later released on police bail pending further enquiries.

The 13-year-old, who was a Year 8 pupil at Coláiste Feirste, was a keen boxer with Gleann ABC boxing club, and had represented Co Antrim against Co Kildare in Belfast just before Christmas.

Belfast’s boxing community is also coming to terms with the death of 11-year-old Cillian Draine who died suddenly last week.

The schoolboy was a member of Star ABC in Belfast.

The tight-knit fighting community has been left stunned by the tragedies and several online auctions have been set up to raise funds for grieving relatives.

Among those donating items is former world boxing champion Carl Frampton who put up the gloves and shorts he was wore in his recent victory over Tyler McCreery in Las Vegas.

Bidding on the prized items was brisk last night and the gloves had attracted offers of £1,100 while the shorts were sitting at £2,000.

Former Olympic bronze medallist Michael Conlan has also offered to raise cash for relatives of the two young boxers with a pair of shorts worn by the Belfast man reaching £2,600 last night.

Female boxing champ Katie Taylor added a signed glove to the auction to help the family of Cillian, which had attracted a bid of £2,750 yesterday.

A glove signed by Mr Conlan, Carl Frampton and former double Olympic bronze medalist Paddy Barnes was also up for grabs.

The Belfast Boxers Facebook page has also auctioned off a pair of shorts provided by Dublin fighter Luke Keeler to raise cash for the family of Eoin Hamill.

As of last night they had attracted a offer of £500 with the bidder vowing to re-auction the sought after shorts.

Hugh O’Halloran from Belfast Boxers was delighted with the reaction to the auction.

“It’s a great response from everybody,” he said.

Requiem Mass for Eoin is due to take place at 10am today at Holy Trinity Church with burial at Milltown Cemetery.

The remains of Cillian will be taken to St Therese of Lisieux for Requiem Mass at 3pm today and then on to Roselawn Crematorium for committal at 5pm.