{"id":416311,"date":"2026-01-18T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T00:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/416311\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T00:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T00:00:09","slug":"kellie-harrington-crowned-irish-champion-after-comeback-from-retirement-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/416311\/","title":{"rendered":"Kellie Harrington crowned Irish champion after comeback from retirement \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kellie Harrington<\/a> completed a successful return from retirement in winning the 60kg final at the 2026 National Elite Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin.<\/p>\n

The two-time Olympic champion announced her comeback last October, having spent over a year out of the ring.<\/p>\n

After a successful return to the National Stadium last week, Harrington\u2019s final opponent in the 60kg division was last year\u2019s champion, Kellie McLoughlin of St Catherine\u2019s BC.<\/p>\n

The first round started at a high tempo, with McLoughlin refusing to give Harrington an inch, catching her early with a couple of crisp right hooks.<\/p>\n

However, the switch-hitter from St Mary\u2019s BC Tallaght adapted well to McLoughlin\u2019s speed, taking the first round on all cards despite some tricky moments. <\/p>\n

Harrington fought most of the second out of the orthodox stance and boxed with more patience, leading McLoughlin onto right-hand counter punches.<\/p>\n

It was another clean sweep on the cards for Harrington, who entered the final round with a commanding lead.<\/p>\n

The third round saw a return to the frenetic pace of the opener, with McLoughlin pushing Harrington onto the ropes and trading punches at close-range.<\/p>\n

Both fighters embraced at the final bell, but it was Harrington\u2019s day, taking a 5-0 unanimous decision.<\/p>\n

\"AoifeAoife O\u2019Rourke (right) during the women’s 75kg final against Shauna Kearney. Photograph: Dan Clohessy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 2025 World Champion Aoife O\u2019Rourke<\/a> defeated Bunclody BC\u2019s Shauna Kearney by unanimous decision in a dominant effort in the 75kg final.<\/p>\n

The Castlerea boxer opened up a wide gap on the scorecards before the third round, but Kearney showed grit to put in a good final round against the world champion.<\/p>\n

Belfast\u2019s Michaela Walsh put on a clinic against Dublin\u2019s Sarah Cunningham in the 57kg final to win a record 13th Irish elite title, while Grainne Walsh, a bronze medallist at last year\u2019s World Championships, defeated Cork\u2019s Linda Desmond for the 65kg title.<\/p>\n

Fellow World Championships bronze medallist Patsy Joyce claimed the national title at 55kg, overcoming Belfast\u2019s Clepson Dos Santos by unanimous decision. European silver medallist from 2023 Jack Marley was crowned the Irish heavyweight champion, but the most entertaining fight of the night came in an action-packed middleweight title fight in which Jobstown\u2019s Tadgh O\u2019Donnell overcame Gavin Rafferty of the Dublin Docklands club.<\/p>\n

Results<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s 50kg: Louis Rooney (Star ABC) 4 \u2013 1 Sean Mari (Monkstown BC) <\/p>\n

Women\u2019s 51kg: Daina Moorehouse (Enniskerry BC) 3 \u2013 2 Caitlin Fryers (Immaculata BC)<\/p>\n

W54kg: Jennifer Lehane (DCU BC) 5 \u2013 0 Robyn Kelly (Ballynacargy BC) <\/p>\n

M55kg: Patsy Joyce (Olympic BC) 5 \u2013 0 Clepson Dos Santos (Holy Trinity BC)<\/p>\n

W57kg: Michaela Walsh (Holy Family GG) 5 \u2013 0 Sarah Cunningham (O\u2019Rourke\u2019s BC)<\/p>\n

W60kg: Kellie Harrington (St Mary\u2019s BC) 5 \u2013 0 Kellie McLoughline (St Catherine\u2019s BC)<\/p>\n

M60kg: Jude Gallagher (Two Castles OBA) 3 \u2013 2 Adam Hession (Monivea BC)<\/p>\n

W65kg: Grainne Walsh (St Mary\u2019s BC) 5 \u2013 0 Linda Desmond (Rylane BC)<\/p>\n

M65kg: Dean Clancy (Sean McDermott BC) 4 \u2013 1 Jason Nevin (Olympic BC) <\/p>\n

M70kg: Jon McConnell (Holy Trinity BC) 4 \u2013 1 Terry McEntee (DCU BC) <\/p>\n

W75kg: Aoife O\u2019Rourke (Castlerea BC) 5 \u2013 0 Shauna Kearney (Bunclody BC)<\/p>\n

M75kg: Tadgh O\u2019Donnell (Jobstown BC) 5 \u2013 0 Gavin Rafferty (Dublin Docklands)<\/p>\n

M80kg: Josh Olaniyan (Jobstown BC) 5 \u2013 0 Keelyn Cassidy (Saviours Crystal BC)<\/p>\n

M85kg: Nathan Ojo (Esker BC) 5 \u2013 0 Robbie Olusola (Celtic Eagles BC)<\/p>\n

M90kg: Jack Marley (Monkstown BC) 5 \u2013 0 Garyn McAlister (North Down BC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kellie Harrington completed a successful return from retirement in winning the 60kg final at the 2026 National Elite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[174851,703,49,48,7607,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-416311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-bob","9":"tag-boxing","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-media","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}