LURGAN teenager Cassie Henderson is a young woman with the world at her feet – and her fists.
It is just over a year-and-half since the 14-year-old first walked through the doors of Gilford Boxing Club and, even then, lacing up gloves competitively wasn’t remotely near the radar.
The training, she thought, would supplement and hopefully enhance work already being done in pursuit of her passion – Gaelic football, where Henderson’s powerhouse performances regularly catch the eye with Clann Eireann and Armagh U14s, while she was previously on the books of Irish League giants Linfield before soccer was put on the backburner.
“My dad wanted me to go and give the boxing a go,” she says, “he thought it would help…”
This is where it becomes clear just how much Henderson is a chip off the old block.
Dad Ryan played football for Armagh before turning his full focus to soccer, swapping the hoops of Lurgan Celtic for Donegal Celtic at the end of the Noughties, quickly assuming cult hero status as his goal tally racked up from week to week.
That brought a 2012 move to Linfield, though Henderson admits he regrets the decision not to take up Cliftonville’s offer as Tommy Breslin’s remarkable Reds side swept to back-to-back titles.
“Nobody could’ve seen that coming,” he says, “and it probably would have meant more to win with Cliftonville because they had gone a few years without anything major.”
Still playing soccer and GAA at 38, Henderson was part of the Clann Eireann side that ended a 58-year wait for an Armagh crown two years ago. But, even though he is struggling to stay away, Henderson insists the end of his own playing days is nearing.
Instead he is keeping a watchful eye on the careers of his children – with son Cohen just 16 when handed his Irish League debut by Glenavon in April, while Cassie has landed Antrim, Ulster and Irish titles in her first full season with Phoenix ABC.
Indeed, since winning the national junior cadet crown three weeks ago, she has been called into the Irish high performance unit.
Even youngest daughter Lyla fancies following in her siblings’ footsteps, the nine-year-old enjoying the warm-up at Phoenix last Wednesday night before weighing up her chances of surpassing Cassie’s achievements in the ring.
“I’m better,” came the emphatic response.
Henderson is sat on the ring apron as his daughters are put through their paces, Cassie thumping the pads just yards away. It is an environment he was keen they embraced due to personal experience.
“Years ago there would’ve been a club in Clann Eireann, so when we weren’t training with the Gaelic we would’ve gone down. We were just cannon fodder!
“Then when we had our fill it was back to the Gaelic. It always stood to you, that’s why I would always promote boxing because I could see the benefits of it. I’d be good mates with [former professional boxer] Stephen Haughian, he was best man at my wedding, and it’s always a really good environment, and it complements the Gaelic really well.”
A bit like Cliftonville’s rise to the top all those years ago, though, Henderson couldn’t have foreseen how well it would go for Cassie.
“I thought she would be decent at it - I didn’t think she would get to where she is so quickly, to be honest.
“At the same time, I’m not surprised because she’s so driven.”
In just her third fight, Henderson claimed the 60kg crown at the national junior cadet championships in Dublin, proving too strong for Crumlin’s Niamh Smith in the final at the National Stadium.
“It’s a bit nerve-wracking - my first fight was in the stadium,” she says.
“But it’s something I’ve got used to it as I’ve gone on and had more fights there thankfully.”
That success led to Henderson being named on the Irish team that headed to Turkey for last year’s European Schools’ Championships. While it didn’t go her way in the ring, the experience proved invaluable – the fact that she was named joint captain a demonstration of the impression made in such a short space of time.
“It was the first time I’ve been away on my own… it’s intimidating going somewhere like that, seeing the big stadium, seeing all the other teams. It hit me like a brick at the start.
“But it was brilliant to be made captain - I don’t know why that, I was really taken by surprise. There were a few tears because I was so excited.”
The titles have continued to come, with Henderson’s latest success last month putting her in the frame for European selection once more, should Ireland send a team – the current political impasse at the top of the sport leaving young boxers in no man’s land for now.
Marty Toland, coach at Phoenix, hopes some kind of international kind of exposure will come her way as a consequence - and he has little doubt Henderson has the tools to go far in the fight game.
“She’s very determined and very driven.
“For being so young, Cassie lives the life, her whole world revolves around Gaelic and boxing - Ryan would be very clued in, sporting-wise and diet-wise, and Cassie knows what she needs to do.
“Obviously it’s still very early, she’s had very few fights and nobody is anywhere near the finished article at that age. There’s a lot more to it and a long way to go but, in general, I think she’s very advanced.
“The aim since the start of the year has been to try and get as much sparring as possible for her and some of the other young ones in the club.
“We’ve been around the country, everywhere we could. Finding sparring can be the difficult part at her age but we knew we had to up the ante, and you’re seeing the improvements now. It’s really bringing her on.
“The Europeans were her goal for this year, we’re not sure what’s happening on that front just yet, while being brought into the high performance will be great for her. Hopefully they have something in the pipeline for the months ahead.
“Cassie would probably be looking at the big picture every year, that’s just the way she is. With her ability, and the way she has improved, you’re really looking at further afield every year, whether that’s Europe, Worlds, whatever.
“She has the talent and the attitude to go far.”
And while Gaelic football remains Cassie’s first love, dad Ryan senses the gap is narrowing, especially given the potential opportunities that lie ahead between the ropes.
“I’ve started to see a wee sea change in her the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“She’s really buying into the boxing, I’m not even having conversations with her any more about things like food or weight – she’s doing all that, and that’s what I wanted.
“Before, she wouldn’t have missed a league game down the club, even if she had an all-Ireland boxing final on the Saturday… slowly but surely she’s maybe starting to see the benefits of boxing.
“Obviously it’s good to win stuff at her age, but I’d love her to still be boxing when she’s 16, 17. That’s what we’re building towards.”
“I always had a ball in my hand from I was no age,” says Cassie.
“I would always have been playing soccer or Gaelic, but now I see football and boxing work together. It’s good having that break going from to the other so your head’s not too wrecked just always at one of them.
“I enjoy the mix.”
And Toland insists that, from his point of view, Phoenix will always work with other stakeholders to ensure Cassie is able to balance both for as long as possible.
“We would never put pressure on her that way,” he says.
“Even coming up to the all-Irelands or the cadets, Cassie has rung me about an important match and I’ll always work with them. We have a lot of the kids in the club who we accommodate around the Gaelic - we try to be flexible.
“All the coaches at the club play their part, some can come in during the day if the kids are off school, so we can always work around Cassie and others. But at the minute it’s working hand in hand, there have been no problems.”
“Like any household there’s a few tears, a few fights, but the good days out make it worthwhile,” adds Ryan.
“I’m lucky there’s a real good team around her… it’s just trying to share the load with the right people, and she has that. Everybody knows their place, nobody’s stepping on each other’s toes, so I’m very thankful.
“These days I take much more enjoyment out of watching them than I do playing myself.”
For now, all parties are enjoying the journey – fighter, father and the club coaches who continue to guide her along the way.
Marty Toland hopes she can have a big future, Ryan will support her all the way from the other other side of the ropes, while the poster of Katie Taylor hanging on the wall behind the Phoenix ring is a constant reminder of how far hard work and will to win can go.
One day, she hopes, that might be her.
“I just want to continue trying to box for Ireland, getting to the Europeans, Worlds, eventually getting to the Olympics.
“You look at Kellie Harrington, somebody like Michaela Walsh and what she has done, a local girl qualified for her second Olympics and going to all the other big competitions.
“That’s what I want to do.”
