'I think I can win anywhere in the world'

JOHNNY WATTERSONtalks to national school teacher Darren O'Neill ahead of the Irish team's trip to Turkey

DARREN O’NEILL leans against the wall at the National Stadium and takes in the buzz and whirl of the cameras and microphones. He has been here before. The day before the Ireland boxing team fly to Ankara, Turkey, for the European Championships, O’Neill could be forgiven for feeling like the head boy among a group of teenagers prior to a school trip, such is their age profile.

He’s one of the Irish boxing team with a European medal tucked away from last year in Moscow. O’Neill went head to head with a Muscovite in the final. Nine out of 10 times there is only one result in that scenario. But there is no bitterness about the vagaries of the sport. The prospect of the occasional home-town call has been woven into boxing folklore and like the black sheep of a family, is always there, always to be endured.

But a silver medallist in the European Championships has a ring he likes. The kids in the school where he works like it too.

“I would have liked to win the gold,” he says. “It was against a Moscow native in Moscow. It was quite harsh. I got in 4-4, 5-4, got in a double jab. I hit him with a left jab and he came back with three or four punches. In 10 seconds there was a three- or four-point jump. That was the end of it. That was it.”

Moving on is part of the thinking process coach Billy Walsh has built into this team and they have come to learn it is the only way to face the rest of the world. These Irish boxers come from a harsh regime, a ruthless vetting process that has kept Olympic silver medallist Ken Egan at home for this trip. Joe Ward, has his ticket. Still Egan is here today, the old master wishing them well and perhaps also letting them know he will be here when they return, ready to push harder than ever.

Don’t look back. Don’t look forward. Live now for the punch, the round, the fight, Walsh tells them. O’Neill doesn’t want to think of the proposed box-offs in August for the World Championships this year, or the Olympics next year in London. To look that far ahead invites bad karma and he knows the breadth of talent that surrounds him in the middleweight division and all around the gym.

He’s 25 years old, older than most. Flyweight Michael Conlon is by the ring. He’s 19 years old, Michael McDonagh 18 years old. Big, rangy Joe Ward is nowhere to be seen. He beat Olympic silver medallist Egan for this shot at Europe. He’s 17 years old. Then there’s Ray Moylett at 20 years old, Con Sheehan and the mercurial John Joe Nevin at 22 years old and Willie McLaughlin at 23 years old.

But age here is a meaningless concept to the seasoned O’Neill. Only Belfast heavyweight Cathal McMonagle is older, at 32, as the team seeks to take more than the five medals they won last year, a haul that had them second to Russia in the overall medal table.

O’Neill is also unique in that he is the only one of the team that has a full-time job as well as the boxing. He corrects that view. He has, he explains, two full-time jobs the teaching and the boxing. He’d have it no other way.

“I am in the unique situation in that I’m teaching. I just have to work around how to get off work,” he says. “It’s great for my development. For training it’s no hassle for me. It works because if I’m stuck in the gym there all day every day my head gets fried and I don’t get as much out of a training session.

“Teaching is a break from the boxing and in turn the boxing is a break from the teaching.

“The kids get a great kick out of it. They’re nine, 10 year olds and they love it. They love having a teacher who’s a boxer. They love having an international athlete. Cathal (McMonagle) was working too but is after taking six months off. Of the team going away, yeah, I think I’m the only one with a full-time job.”

Demands from Dublin national school Holy Trinity are as high as the gym or his diet. O’Neill, from Paulstown in Kilkenny, opts for balance and a complementary lifestyle more than blinkered devotion.

The expectations are high and even without lightweight European champion Paddy Barnes, who withdrew last week with a hand injury, the boxers consistently demand attention. The pressure to bring home medals is constant. At Olympic, World and European level they have become hostages to success.

“Boxing is a very individual sport and what works for me might not work for the next person,” explains O’Neill. “It’s all about knowing the athlete and to be fair to Billy (Walsh), he knows us very well. It’s about getting your athlete right.

“Doing so well last year there’s probably a bit of pressure on the team. They’re all saying it’s a chance to go one better, another chance to win a medal. It’s going to be the first round, the first score, as far as I’m concerned. You can get in on a bad day and be beaten by an average or poor boxer or get in on your best day and beat the world. It’s purely how you get in on the day. I wouldn’t be bothered about what other people’s opinions are, what their assumptions are.”

Over by the ring Moylett and new face Conlon weigh no more than 120 kilos combined. Even O’Neill is stripped down and spare. Some are tucking into sandwiches, others steadfastly up against the wall, their hands deep in their pockets.

Making the weight is everywhere. But this is a team, uniquely for Ireland, that can face Europe and fear few.

“I’ll never set foot in the ring if I think I’m going to lose,” says O’Neill without a hint of bravado. “I think I can win no matter what tournament. I think I can win anywhere in the world.”

Nobody blinks and eye.

ANKARA BOUND THE IRISH TEAM

Michael Conlon

(St John Bosco, Belfast)

Age:19

Stance:Orthodox

Honours:Elite Irish champion.

56kg

John Joe Nevin

(Cavan BC)

Age:22

Stance:Orthodox

Honours:2009 World Championship bronze medal; EU gold medal.

60kg

Michael McDonagh

(St Mary’s, Dublin)

Age:18

Stance:Orthodox

Honours:Elite Irish champion.

64kg

Ray Moylette

(St Anne’s, Westport)

Age:20

Stance:Orthodox

Honours:2008 World Youth champion.

69kg

Willie McLaughlin

(Illies Golden Gloves, Donegal)

Age:23

Stance:Orthodox

Honours:World Championships quarter-finalist.

75kg

Darren O’Neill

(Paulstown BC, Kilkenny)

Age:25

Stance:Southpaw

Honours:2010 European silver medallist; 2009 EU champion.

81kg

Joe Ward

(Moate BC, Westmeath)

Age:17

Stance:Southpaw

Honours:2010 World Youth champion.

91kg

Con Sheehan

(Clonmel BC)

Age:22

Stance:Orthodox

Honours:2009 EU champion.

91 plus kg

Cahal McMonagle

(Holy Trinity, Belfast)

Age:32

Stance:Orthodox

Honours:2007 EU silver medallist.