Sunnyside Boxing Club mourning the loss of one of their greatest stalwarts William Harrington

SUNNYSIDE Boxing Club last weekend lost one of the club’s great stalwarts following the sudden death of William Harrington.

William was a proud Northsider who loved the sport of boxing and he was effectively known as Harry, the abbreviation of his surname and was widely known and respected throughout Cork Boxing circles. 

He was employed by the Cope Foundation where he worked as a social care official. 

Harry was very popular with his working colleagues. He was also very conscious that the Cope concept was the brainchild of a former great Cork Boxing administrator, the late John Birmingham, who was also a former President of the Cork County Boxing Board.

In addition to serving the club for many years as a coach, he was also a prominent committee member. 

He had a great knowledge of the club’s history going back to its foundation in 1927. 

During his coaching with the club, he had the great sporting pleasure of coaching his son, Small William to numerous County Championship and Munster titles. 

In a tribute, Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan said: “William always had an infectious broad smile which would brighten up the darkest day, a great guy and one of nature’s true gentlemen."

William Harrington was immensely proud of the great achievements of The Sunnyside boxers. 

He had a lifelong affinity with Kieran Joyce, Paul Buttimer, Michael Roche and Gordon Joyce. 

All shared their own memories of Harry, and the many great boxing experiences they enjoyed together. 

Gordon Joyce said: “I was devastated when I heard the news of his death, Harry must have given a minimum of 15 years of service to Sunnyside and he was one of the most obliging men you could wish to meet. 

"He would go to the moon and back to help anyone, he is not just a loss to boxing, but to humanity."

For many years, William worked very closely with Kieran Joyce. 

They put in a lot of time together coaching Sunnyside boxers. 

When Kieran was announced as the Cork boxer of the century in 2014, at the County Boxing Board Centenary Dinner, William Harrington said that night: “it was the greatest day in the history of the club."

The main picture on this page was taken at the Centenary Dinner. 

Kieran Joyce said following the death of his great friend: “I am gutted and very deeply saddened to lose a great friend who was one of the most decent compassionate and helpful of men, he will never be forgotten."

William’s funeral mass took place at the Church of the Ascension in Gurranabraher. 

However, he lived in Togher in recent years. While there, he joined the local Togher Boxing Club and worked as a coach with that club for a number of years. 

Head coach with Togher BC Shane Forde said he was shocked to hear the news of William’s passing. 

He added: “he brought a lot of experience to our coaching team, and on behalf of all in our club, I wish to express our sincere condolences to his wife and family."

Speaking on behalf of The Cork County Board, long time secretary John Wiseman extended the sympathy of the board to William’s wife Fiona, and the entire Harrington family. 

He said: “William was part of the Cork boxing family and Leeside Boxing has lost a great volunteer."

Meanwhile, last week the Evergreen Dan O’Leary passed away. 

Dan was a great follower of Cork Boxing over many years. His stories of boxing at the City Hall were legendary. 

Dan was for many years a prominent member of the Cork Male Voice Choir and later a member of the Cork Choristers. 

Dan arranged for that choir to sing at many of the Cork Boxing breakfasts. 

He was always very helpful, and in later years when ill health prevented him from personally attending, he always insured the choir showed up to entertain the guests with a delighted selection of Cork's favorite songs and anthems. 

On behalf of the Cork Ex-Boxers Association, the Chairman JJ Murphy extended the associations deepest sympathy to Dan’s wife Nell and all members of the O’Leary family.

Elsewhere, September is the month when most boxing clubs commence the new season. 

However, this year clubs will be met by a new challenge. 

The current economic crisis, and the cost of providing lighting and heating will drain the coffers of many clubs. 

Plans by all clubs, will have to be put in place to meet the rising cost of energy if clubs wish to maintain the levels of gym activity they provided for thousands of Cork Boxers in recent years.

In Cork, clubs survived the Covid Pandemic and bounced back. 

Now once again, clubs will be confronted by a cash crisis. 

It is important for all clubs to have a strong committee in place where continuous fund raising will help to keep the lights on in all clubs. 

Over the years boxing on Leeside has been challenged by various issues on many occasions, and has always survived and went on to get stronger as a sport. 

Boxing will always prevail in Cork!