AS the Team NI boxers anxiously await this evening’s Commonwealth Games draw, head coach Damian Kennedy has insisted his charges have “the potential to shock” in Birmingham.
The 12-strong team - which lost super-heavyweight Damien Sullivan due to a medical issue - packs a mixture of youth and experience, with Olympic bronze medallist Aidan Walsh, his sister Michaela, Carly McNaul and world champion Amy Broadhurst among the more established figures.
The Walsh siblings and McNaul all picked up silver medals at the last Games on the Gold Coast four years ago, but it is a first Games for most of the rest, with 18-year-olds Clepson dos Santos and Dylan Eagleson the youngest campaigners.
Nicole Clyde, Jude Gallagher, JP Hale, Eugene McKeever and Jake Tucker are all hoping to make their international breakthrough in Birmingham, while light-middleweight Eireann Nugent ended an 11-year exile from the ring for a crack at the Commonwealths.
And Kennedy believes the team is more than capable of rising to the challenge as the medal trail begins.
“They’re all in a great place,” he said.
“There’s a bit of craic among the team, a real good bit of banter. A lot of these guys haven’t experienced this before, it’s hard for them being away from their families, coming into this camp, and we want to keep them in a tight-knit bubble as much as possible because of Covid.
“Thankfully I’ve been with the likes of Dylan since he came into the [Ulster High Performance youth and junior] programme, and I was at the World Championships with Amy before, so I know them all very well, I know what makes them tick.
“We’ve got a real good balance here – Aidan and Michaela, Olympians, Aidan an Olympic medallist. Amy Broadhurst, world champion, Dylan Eagleson has just won silver at the European Championships, so it’s inspiring for the rest of the guys.
“Clepson is coming into himself, Nicole Clyde is a young girl on the team, clinical in her work, doesn’t waste any energy, so there’s some really exciting talent.
“But they’re not new to major international competition, they’ve all been there, bar Eireann – and she’s capable of doing really well.
“Although it’s a mixture of youth and experience, this team has the potential to shock. I really do believe that. I’m confident they can all do really well in Birmingham.”
The past number of months have presented a different challenge for Kennedy too.
John Conlan was head coach at the last two Commonwealths, in 2014 and 2018, but is performance lead for these Games – leaving Kennedy with responsibility for the boxers as well as the coaching team of Liam Corr, JP Delaney and Rory McShane.
And it is a role he has relished.
“It’s been brilliant,” he said.
“It’s great that John has the faith in me, and he can see that I’m up to the task, but it’s not new to me - I’ve been in high pressure environments before. I was head coach at the European U22 Championships the last two times where we’ve been really successful.
“I’ve been at World Championships, Europeans, at the last Commonwealths in Australia I was part of John’s coaching team... it’s not an environment I’m not used to.
“Leading it is a little bit different, but I’m really enjoying it.”
