Cork boxers win a further two all-Ireland titles at U19 level

On Friday night last at the National Stadium, Cork boxers won a further two all-Ireland titles on finals night at the male and female under nineteen Championships.

Five Cork boxers qualified for their respective weight finals and while, well satisfied with taking home two national crowns it could have been four.

Ricky Kiely, Midleton BC gave a superb performance to lift the Light Heavyweight title, while an outstanding display from Katelyn Butler, St Colman's BC secured the Middleweight gold medal. 

This was a great double for Leeside and the two East Cork clubs. 

The three other Cork boxers winning silver medals were Daniel O’Connell from Kanturk BC, Grant Moloney from Togher BC, and Reuben Aibologa, from the Mayfield Boxing Club.

The consistent hard work done by the Midleton coaches has yielded another Irish title, and St Colman's Boxing Club rejoiced in their own success to mark the 40th anniversary of their first All-Ireland title, which was won by Billy Walsh at the national finals, which took place at the City Hall Cork in 1985.

Meanwhile, the official opening of the renovated Bishop Lucey Park will take place later this year. 

A new Boxing Wall of Fame will be incorporated in the city centre amenity.

The president of the Cork County Boxing Board, Michael O’Brien has confirmed the first plaque erected on the new wall will honour Kieran Joyce from the Sunnyside Boxing Club. 

O’Brien said this.

"Sunnyside BC will celebrate their centenary in the next year or so having been established in 1927, and it is very appropriate that Kieran should be honoured to mark the occasion."

The Sunnyside legend, Joyce was unveiled as Cork’s Boxer of the Century at a magnificent centenary dinner dance in celebration of 100 years of the sport on Leeside in 2014. 

A two-weight, two-time Olympian, Joyce represented Ireland on over 100 occasions. 

He won European elite bronze in Bulgaria in 1983 before lining out at Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 in between securing six Irish elite titles.

Following the death of his acclaimed coach, Albie Murphy, Joyce put in many years of service as head coach with the Sunnyside BC.

Born in the Northside, he was one of 12 children raised by Brian and Elizabeth Joyce. 

The family ran a coal delivery business on Fair Hill. 

Kieran and his brothers, Gordan and Barry joined the Sunnyside unit at an early age. 

Joyce recalled that he was about 10 when he answered an opening bell. 

“I felt destined to be a boxer as I seemed to be a natural at it and it came easy to me,” he said.

Joyce impressed at underage level, winning numerous juvenile and junior titles. 

He secured his first elite belt at the National Stadium in 1983 after beating Joe Fenton in the 67kg class on March 25 of that year.

In 1983, he lined out for Ireland at the European Championship Elite in Varna, Bulgaria and defeated Norway’s Kristen Reagan and Hungary’s Tibor Molnar to secure bronze but was beaten on a split decision by eventual gold medallist, Peter Galkin of the URSS in the semi-finals.

Joyce’s bronze was the only medal that Ireland claimed behind the former Iron Curtain and the boys in green, courtesy of the Cork-man, finished in 11th place in the medals table at the 19-nation tournament.

“I got more out of Bulgaria than a medal.

"To see how the Russian, the Poles, the Hungarians and the East Germans approached boxing was incredible. 

"The routines they undertook in training was food for thought," Joyce said.

A year later, Joyce represented Ireland at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. 

The Sunnyside man got a bye in the welter class and stopped Basil Boniface of Seychelles in his first outing. 

Joyce dominated the contest, and Boniface was taken into protective custody by the ref in the second round after taking three standing counts.

He met Joni Nyman of Finland in his next bout. 

The Northsider boxed exceptionally well in the first round but lost the second and third frames, and Nyman won on a 4–1 split. 

The Finn took home bronze from LA.

His second Olympic experience was at Seoul 1988. 

By the time these games came around, Joyce was unbeaten in Ireland and had moved up to the light middle division. 

Battling to make that limit, he moved up another notch to middleweight for the 24th Olympiad. 

Wayne McCullough, Michael Carruth, John Lowey, Joe Lawlor, Paul Fitzgerald, Billy Walsh and Joyce made up the Irish squad in Seoul.

The Cork man was drawn against Filipo Palako Vaka of Tonga in his first bout at 75kg and stopped the brave but outclassed Polynesian in the first round. 

Uganda’s Franco Wanyama, a renowned puncher, was next on a day of enormous disappointment for the Irish squad as they were all, including Joyce, eliminated. 

However, Joyce’s exit was particularly galling as he was on the wrong end of a controversial 3-2 split decision from a fight many believed he had won.

Joyce admitted after the contest that the verdict killed him, as he was sure he had done enough to progress. 

“My objective was gold.” 

The loss marked the end of his Olympic dream and journey.

Meanwhile, 20 years before Joyce exploded onto the national boxing scene in 1983, another Northside legend, Mick Leahy, won the British Middleweight crown in England after stopping George Aldrige in the first round in Nottingham.

Leahy was a supporter and admirer of what Joyce had achieved in the ring. 

Before he died on January 5, 2010, he returned to Blackpool where he boxed with the Glen BC as a youth.

He was asked for his thoughts on Joyce and said the Sunnyside boxwe was a stand out.

 “He was a fearless fighting machine who propelled himself out of proportion in his quest to achieve victory at all times.” 

This was the ultimate tribute to the Sunnyside legend.