{"id":418028,"date":"2026-01-18T20:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T20:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/418028\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T20:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T20:56:11","slug":"michaela-walsh-wants-more-after-landing-record-14th-irish-title-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/418028\/","title":{"rendered":"Michaela Walsh wants more after landing record 14th Irish title \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

MICHAELA Walsh has revealed she was on the brink of quitting boxing before the Paris Olympics \u2013 but is back enjoying the sport after collecting a record 14th Irish elite title on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The west Belfast woman was a comfortable winner over the experienced Sarah Cunningham in their featherweight decider but, with brother Aidan recently confirming his exit from boxing at the end of last year, Walsh admits she has been close to following suit at times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was trying not to focus on it – it\u2019s just another fight at the end of the day,\u201d she said of Saturday\u2019s latest title triumph.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when I sit down later on and see that achievement, I\u2019ll realise how special it is. I really wanted not only to win this tournament, but I wanted to show that I\u2019m continuing to get better. <\/p>\n

\"Erling<\/a>\"Irish<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t won an international medal now in two years, so this year I really want to set my mark on the international scene. I still believe I have a lot left and I don\u2019t want to walk away from amateur boxing until I know I\u2019ve reached my full potential. <\/p>\n

\u201cComing up to Paris, I was struggling a lot. Being honest, I was going to walk away from boxing\u2026 I think I\u2019ve found a way to enjoy it. I\u2019m kind of lucky in the way that Aidan\u2019s retired because he\u2019s been able to put a lot of time and effort into me. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve noticed that in my preparation, in my confidence, in my body language – I think it\u2019s added so much more to my game. He doesn\u2019t have to worry about himself now and I don\u2019t have to worry about him fighting. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m able to fully be me and to have the support of not only him but my dad there. Aidan\u2019s put a lot of time into me over Christmas. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tough and there were times I wanted to kill him, but when you get good performances like that, and I\u2019m boxing to the standard that I want to be boxing at, it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, it was a straightforward night\u2019s work for world champion Aoife O\u2019Rourke and her fellow Paris Olympians Grainne Walsh and Jennifer Lehane, with Dean Clancy coming out the right side of the judges\u2019 scorecards after a tight tussle with Jason Nevin.<\/p>\n

Daina Moorehouse and Jude Gallagher picked up the best boxer awards \u2013 with both just edging across the line after intriguing battles. Moorehouse started quickly against Caitlin Fryers, but the Immaculata woman came on strong in the remaining two rounds; it was a decision that could have gone either way, but it was Fryers who was left devastated.<\/p>\n

Gallagher, too, had to fight his way back to victory after Adam Hession took the opening round, with the Tyrone man digging in and forcing the pace enough to get the nod in the latest instalment of this rivalry.<\/p>\n

One of the performances of the night came from Louis Rooney, who added his burgeoning reputation with a classy display to get the better of multiple Irish elite champion, Sean Mari.<\/p>\n

Despite going up to 55kg for the Ulster elites, as that is the lightest weight available at this summer\u2019s Commonwealth Games, Star man Rooney returned to 50kg and was in control throughout.<\/p>\n

The same could be said for Jon McConnell in the final fight of the night, as the defending light-middleweight champion turned on the style to beat Terry McEntee. It wasn\u2019t to be for Holy Trinity club-mate Clepson dos Santos, however, as he came up short against classy world bronze medallist, Patsy Joyce.<\/p>\n

The night started off with a shock, as reigning light-heavyweight champion Kelyn Cassidy lost out to Josh Olaniyan.<\/p>\n

Waterford\u2019s Cassidy twice came within a whisker of qualification for the Paris Olympics, and is widely expected to make a move into the pro ranks after being outclassed by the slick Jobstown man.<\/p>\n

Olaniyan \u2013 whose younger brother Adam joined the paid ranks with Frank Warren\u2019s Queensberry earlier this week \u2013 has bounced back impressively from a stoppage defeat to Tadhg O\u2019Donnell in Belfast last summer, forcing his way into the thoughts of the watching Irish coaches.<\/p>\n

RESULTS<\/p>\n

48kg: I Cashell (Ballymun) <\/p>\n

80kg: J Olaniyan (Jobstown) bt K Cassidy (Saviours Crystal) 5-0<\/p>\n

54kg: J Lehane (DCU) bt R Kelly (Ballynacargy) 5-0<\/p>\n

75kg: T O\u2019Donnell (Jobstown) bt G Rafferty (Dublin Docklands) 5-0<\/p>\n

60kg: K Harrington (St Mary\u2019s) bt K McLoughlin (St Catherine\u2019s) 5-0<\/p>\n

75kg: A O\u2019Rourke (Castlerea) bt S Kearney (Bunclody) 5-0<\/p>\n

50kg: L Rooney (Star) bt S Mari (Monkstown) 4-1<\/p>\n

65kg: G Walsh (St Mary\u2019s) bt L Desmond (Rylane) 5-0<\/p>\n

55kg: P Joyce (Olympic Mullingar) bt C dos Santos (Holy Trinity) 5-0<\/p>\n

51kg: D Moorehouse (Enniskerry) bt Caitlin Fryers (Immaculata) 3-2<\/p>\n

57kg: M Walsh (Holy Family) bt S Cunningham (O\u2019Rourke\u2019s) 5-0<\/p>\n

60kg: J Gallagher (Two Castles) bt A Hession (Monivea) <\/p>\n

70kg: E Igharo (Clann Naofa) W\/O<\/p>\n

90kg: J Marley (Monkstown) bt G McAllister (North Down) 5-0<\/p>\n

85kg: N Ojo (Esker) bt R Olusola (Celtic Eagles) 5-0<\/p>\n

80kg: E Keating (Paulstown) W\/O<\/p>\n

70kg: J McConnell (Holy Trinity) bt T McEntee (DCU) 4-1<\/p>\n

80+kg: C D\u2019Arcy (Tobar Pheadair) W\/O<\/p>\n

90+kg: WJ McCartan (Gilford) W\/O<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MICHAELA Walsh has revealed she was on the brink of quitting boxing before the Paris Olympics \u2013 but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":418029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,119028,49,48,175512,175511,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-418028","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-day","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-jude-gallagher","13":"tag-michaela-walsh","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418028","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=418028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}