Cork fighters lead way for Ireland at European Taekwondo Championships

CORK had a strong presence at the Choi Hong Hwa ITF European Taekwondo Championships in Cardiff, with six new European champions on Leeside. 

In the squad of over 50 that travelled, Cork clubs Blackrock, Farranree, Midleton, Rathpeacon, Redking and Scion were represented, winning 22 bronze medals, fighting their way to 19 finals with 13 winning silver. 

Every competitor did their clubs and country proud, but with too many to name, we’ll focus only on the gold.

GOLDEN

The youngest gold medallists came from Midleton, where Leon O Conner, 13, became the U14 Welter Weight European Sparring Champion, and Colin White, 14, became the U18 Power Breaking Champion. Midleton’s club instructor, James Dwyer, who is a three-time ITF World Champion, was the Irish Coach.

The next two gold medallists came from Farranree, where club instructor, Trevor Healy, won the Senior Welter Weight Sparring, and his student, Alex McCarthy, landed the Adult Micro Weight Sparring, beating the current World Champion, Elliot Callaghan.

Two gold medals were delivered by Blackrock. Club instructor, Paul Manning is a two-time ITF World Champion but went as a coach here to spur his students on to victory. Gar Fleming won the Senior Middle Weight Sparring and Amy Sullivan fought her way to becoming the Adult Middle Weight European Champion.

There were also highly competitive team events, where each country selected the five best fighters in what many consider to be the main event of the tournament. 

For the Junior Boys Irish Team, five of them were from Cork, with Cian O'Connor and Corey Walsh selected from Rathpeacon, Aaron Colbert and Jordan O'Polo chosen from Midleton, and Cormac Harrington picked from Blackrock. Ireland won double gold in this team division, winning the special technique, and beating the UK Boys Team in the Team Sparring Final.

For the Junior Girls Irish Team, two were from Cork – Cliodhna O'Brien from Redking and Emily O'Polo from Midelton – and Ireland also won double gold in this team event, winning the team patterns, and once again beating the UK in the Team Sparring Final.

For the adult men’s team, Alex McCarthy from Farranree, Dylan O'Leary from Redking, and David Lyons, David O'Donoghue, and Josh Byrne from Blackrock were selected as Ireland took silver in the Men’s Team Sparring and won the Team Patterns.

Two Leesiders were in the adult women’s team, Ciara Beirne from Midleton and Amy Sullivan from Blackrock, who won all their fights in the team matches, battling their way to a nail-biting final against the UK. 

The first round was a draw, so Amy was sent out for round two and got a win. UK won the third round though, so Ciara was sent out to grab a fourth-round victory. In the fifth and final round, UK took it again, which meant two wins and a draw for each team. 

The decider saw each country send out their best fighter, with Cork's European Champion Amy Sullivan securing the gold for the Irish team.

Next year will see the ITF World Championships take place in Spain, where Ireland – and Cork! – are already planning on winning more gold!