BILLY McClean is expecting big things from the latest crop of talented young Irish boxers in 2014, with a clutch of Ulster's finest expected to lead the way.
The Belfast man heads up junior and youth development at the High Performance unit alongside the Irish Amateur Boxing Association's Director of Boxing, Dominic O'Rourke.
The production line of talent that has come out of the National Stadium in recent years has been the envy of countries throughout the world, and McClean expects this success to continue as the High Performance unit implements strategies geared towards making the maximum impact at the Olympic Games of 2016 and 2022.
In terms of the Ulster talent who have made an impact this year, it is hard to look much further than St Paul's box-fighter Brendan Irvine and talented Canal BC pair Jason McKay and Kurt Walker.
"Jason was a silver medallist at the European juniors last year, and this year Kurt Walker was a very unlucky finalist in Rotterdam [at the European juniors] when he lost a disputable decision in the final. We all felt he had done enough to get the verdict," said McClean.
"Brendan is one of our outstanding talents. He was in Russia with me last June and I believe it was the making of him. We took him away a youth boxer and he came home a man because of the work he did with world and European champions out there.
"Brendan has clearly got an international future and has been identified as a top talent within the High Performance unit and certainly, the way he's going at the minute, the Junior Olympics are Brendan's goal and he's working very hard to achieve that.
"When you look at the medals and the boxers coming through, it is clear that Ulster has a very strong representation within the High Performance unit."
The Junior Olympics take place in Nanjing, China next August, with the World Championships in Bulgaria in April crucial to the hopes of those hoping to qualify.
McClean is a firm believer that international competition is the making of young fighters, and the High Performance unit has already organised home and away training camps with the Russian national youth team in January and February of next year.
Such experience can only be of benefit, insists the Belfast man.
"It's hard to develop as a country internationally but that was a key objective, so we have been at training camps throughout the year with the youth and junior boxers in Russia," he said.
"The programme that I am working on alongside Dominic O'Rourke, is geared towards the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. These kids are the future. We're getting all these champions, and we are just polishing the diamonds at the High Performance unit.
"We're working with the top countries in the world on a regular basis and we can see the development and the structure starting to fall into place for our young boxers.
"After the success we enjoyed this year, there is no reason not be optimistic that we can do well in 2014."