Irish champion Carleigh Irving makes Oakleaf history!

Oakleaf ABC’s first ever female Irish National champion Carleigh Irving admits she ran 170 kilometres in preparation to go all the way at last weekend’s Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin.

The Eglinton girl created history by beating European medallists to win the title, seeing off Georgia McGovern and Sophie Gray in impressive fashion.    

In the semi-final, Carleigh achieved an important victory when she defeated current Irish champion Georgia McGovern, winning on points. The Setanta boxer had beaten Irving in two Irish finals previously but such was the remarkable encouragement in young Irving’s performance, that this time she emerged on top and deservedly so.

Carleigh took great confidence from tat victory into the final, where she faced another European medallist in Sophie Grey from Dealgan Boxing Club.

From the opening bell, the Eglinton girl forced the Dundalk boxer onto the back foot and landed heavy shots to the head and body throughout. If truth be told, the referee could even have given the Dundalk fighter a count because she was shipping so many shots and Irving had her in all sorts of trouble. In the end there was a clear winner with a delighted Carleigh having her hand raised in a deserved victory.

The win was huge for both the boxer herself and the club as a whole.

“Not only was this her first Irish title, the achievement of young Irving to come back and beat an opponent she had lost to twice on the way to the final made it that extra bit special both for Carleigh and everyone at Oakleaf,” Eugene O’Kane senior said afterwards.

“Carleigh has tasted defeat in three Irish finals overall, so this achievement this past weekend signifies a remarkable turnaround and all praise must be given to her as well as her coaches who all did a brilliant job to win this title.”

To make the victory even sweeter, Carleigh was yesterday selected to represent Ireland at the forthcoming Four Nations Tournament in Assisi, Italy. This tournament will involve teams from Italy, Ireland, France and Hungary and will be another big step for Carleigh in her career. This is the second international honour to come to Oakleaf ABC as Jack Harkin represented Ireland at the World Youth Championships in Spain last November.

There was some disappointment for Oakleaf in Dublin however. Bernie Stokes will probably be left wondering what it takes to become Irish champion. In his semi-final against Olympic Mullingar’s Ryan Jenkins, young Stokes was the victim of a very dubious 3-2 decision against him. Most observers in the stadium felt that young Stokes had done enough and to compound matters, Jenkins went on to beat Roy Colgan. A world medallist in Spain recently, on points.

Oakleaf’s other boxer at the Irish Championships was Jack Harkin who moved from 51 kgs to 54 kgs. It simply wasn’t to be for young Harkin who didn’t turn up on the day, but he is sure to learn a lot from this setback.

Determined

The star performer overall for Oakleaf was undoubtedly Carleigh Irvin, who became Oakleaf’s first female National champion.

“It was a tough pace,” she said. “See in the semi-final and the final it was a high pace all the time, but I always felt fit enough to do it, and that’s what I had to do to win. Georgia had beaten me twice previously so I knew I had to really up my game.

“I knew in both fights, especially the semi-final that I had to push in order to slow the fight down and then set a high pace and you definitely feel that in the last round anyway. You can see it.”

Showing her determination to win, Carleigh really put the work in to prepare for the finals.

“I ran 170 kilometers leading up to it because I knew I had to be really fit if I wanted to win,” she revealed. “I’ve been boxing some of the older boys in the club because they can set a high pace and I was able to match them and so I knew then I was ready.”