A FEW different strands of Billy McClean’s boxing life came together as he watched the Irish Elite Championship finals at the National Stadium last month.
It is a place he visited as a young man with a growing love for the sport, the sounds, sights and smells as clear now as they were then, before eventually gracing the famous stage himself.
Once his career ended, however, it was outside the ropes where McClean would go on to make his greatest impact – building from the bottom, learning from some of the best and eventually becoming national youth head coach.
During that time Ireland landed 68 medals on the international stage, including 12 gold, and at elite finals night McClean was one of five Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) award winners – his for coaching services, with several of the west Belfast man’s protégés strutting their stuff right before his eyes.
“Oh let’s see, you had Daina Moorehouse, who won a gold medal with me in Italy as well as bronze at the World youths years later, then Dean Clancy. It was lovely to watch them,” he said.
“Brendan Irvine wasn’t boxing but he was in the corner of his St Paul’s club-mate Dylan Eagleson - we identified Brendan as a class act at a very early age, but when he got to the youth age groups he was still too light to box at international level.
“Still we decided to take him to training camps in places like Russia and Germany so that he could develop as a future international boxer, and Brendan went on to box in two Olympic Games and represent his country with distinction.
“You also had the likes of Willie Donoghue, who won World Championship gold in 2013, Kurt Walker won a European bronze, Gary Cully won a gold medal and best boxer in Rotterdam, and is making big waves as a professional now.
“You could go on all day… they’re special memories.”
Watching those who have gone through his hands led him to reflect upon his own journey, both in and out of the ring, and the long road that led to him becoming such a respected figure within the sport.
“I was involved in five Ulster senior finals and won two,” said McClean, who boxed out of Holy Trinity and is still involved with Turf Lodge club on occasion.
“I beat the legendary pro coach Tony Dunloy in 1982, I won that title in 1984, but I’m probably best known for the finals I lost.
“In particular, I lost to John Shaw – a tremendous boxer from Larne – in 1983, and that was a great punch-up. Damien Denny gave me a boxing lesson in the 1985 final, but the fight I’m probably most notable for was the 1987 Ulster final against Jim Webb.
“The two of us fought to a standstill and they threw money into the ring at the end of the fight - I remember it very well. I also had the privilege of boxing Billy Walsh in the 1984 Irish senior semi-final, and he beat me on a close decision.
“I went on then to work with Billy, who was my boss during some of the years at the High Performance…”
Coaching came a few years after the gloves were hung up in 1987, with McClean named Sport NI junior coach of the year a decade down the line after coaching nine Ulster champions in one day.
Sean Canavan at St Agnes’s was “a fantastic mentor” in the early days, with Holy Trinity stalwart Michael Hawkins “the greatest influence on my life as a boxing coach”.
And McClean was also keen to pay tribute to a man who, although not there to celebrate the IABA award, would have been watching from afar, proud as punch.
“Michael Hawkins trained me as a young boxer -I learned so much from him that I was able to take forward into my own international career. Michael was a visionary, a man before his time in boxing terms, and even today he is revered.
“The other person was my late father, Billy senior, who boxed under Akkie Kelly at the Star Boxing Club. If he had been alive, I’m sure he would have been a very proud man at the National Stadium that night.
“Like everything else, in boxing you have your ups and downs and you ride the storm, but I must say I wouldn’t have changed much. I’ve enjoyed the journey, and I’m incredibly proud my wife Antoinette is national secretary of the Association at present.
“Now it’s time for a new generation to keep the medal train running - I wish them every success in that, I really do.”
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ULSTER TALENT EYE UP TITLES AT STADIUM
SOME of Ulster’s top emerging talents have their sights set on titles at the National Stadium on Saturday.
Holy Trinity pair Jon McConnell and Clepson dos Santos are stand-out names in the Irish U22 Championship final line-up, as they bid to move on from the disappointment of elite decider defeat at the same venue last month.
For McConnell - who has jumped up from 63.5kg to 71kg in the space of a year - there are clear signs of the progress being made as he proved too slick and strong for Swatragh’s Eoghan Quinn in December’s Ulster elite final in Derry.
And he went on to push Dean Walsh all the way in Dublin last month, the night after the Wexford man oppled Olympic bronze medallist Aidan Walsh.
Flyweight Dos Santos, meanwhile, came up short against Sean Mari having lost out to Blaine Dobbins in the Ulster final. However, still only 18 and with a Commonwealth Games already under his belt, the potential is there for a big future.
The same can be said of Rathfriland’s Donagh Keary, who won the 57kg crown at last summer’s prestigious Haringey Cup in London, and takes on Liberty’s Jake McMahon.
Erne’s Rhys Owens has been in impressive form in recent months and will hope to carry that into his lightweight showdown with Brian Gilroy, while Jamie Gray – of the St Monica’s club in Newry – takes on James McDonagh at 63.5kg.
With no other entrants at light-fly, St John Bosco’s Padraig Downey wins the title via walkover.
After forcing her way into pole position for a crack at June’s Olympic qualifier by beating Belfast’s Caitlin Fryers in the elite final, fly Daina Moorehouse is keeping busy as she bids for the U22 crown against Chantelle Robinson.
In the U18 Championships, Star light-fly Louis Rooney – a cousin of Ulster champion JP Hale – takes on Alfie Jordans, with Oakleaf’s Carleigh Irving up against Sophie Curley-Gray, also at 48kg.
Clonard’s talented Jamie Graham goes toe-to-toe with Limerick’s Patsy Joyce in what should be a cracking 51kg contest, while Ederney’s Luke Duncan is up against a classy operator in European youth champion Bobbi Flood at 71kg.
St Paul’s middleweight Dylan McShane faces Troy Donnelly (Cherry Orchard), Ormeau Road’s Anthony Taggart is pitted against Limerick’s John Joyce at 86kg, while Ledley super-heavy Brandon McKelvie takes on Jobstown’s Dam Olaniyan.
