Northern Ireland’s boxers proudly topped the medal table at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium in Delhi.
Three gold and two silvers was the return on finals day, a magnificent achievement and leading the way was Captain Eamonn O’Kane, who is a member of the Sports Institute Northern Ireland.
Four years after he almost quit the sport the Dungiven man stood on top of the podium, check that, on top of the world after dishing out a hammering to England’s Anthony Agogo, 16-4 in a lopsided middleweight decider.
O’Kane joined Paddy Barnes and Paddy Gallagher as Commonwealth Games champions on an historic day as the team recorded it’s best result since they won two gold and two silvers at the 1994 Games in Victoria.
When the medal was hung around O’Kane’s neck it was also a little milestone, the 100th medal for Northern Ireland in Commonwealth Games history.
The Immaculata club boxer had sat around watching Barnes and Gallagher win their bouts as he waited his turn.
“I was thinking, can this happen to me? Can this be the day for me? It’s a dream come true, I’m a winner and to win so emphatically, I could never have dreamed it,” he said afterwards.
The final was as one sided as the scoreline suggests with O’Kane’s experience too much for the ex-Big Brother contestant to handle.
“I’m 28 years-old, I’m the old man of amateur boxing here but to everyone who has helped me, driven me, supported me and trained me and my family and my wife and child who have been there for me and helped me become the boxer I am, I’m so thankful.”
It was his wife Nicola who had persuaded him to return to the ring after the disappointment of missing out on a medal in Melbourne. She watched from home as she looked after 16-month-old Charlie but at ringside O’Kane was cheered on by his father, mother, two sisters and brother-in-law. They’d attended every fight involving a local boxer for the last ten days.
“This was one of the reasons I came back. I thought I got a rubbish decision in Melbourne and missed out on a medal and my wife kept bugging me for six months to go back and I went back for a year and won a wee bit and I kept going and then I was taken on by the High Performance team and they’ve pushed me to this. This is the best day of my career, to be champion of the Commonwealth Games, I can’t believe it and to be captain of this team, can you believe our team, unbelievable.”
It was Paddy Barnes who had once again set the tone for the day. He added the Commonwealth Games gold to his European title and Olympic bronze medal beating defending champion Jafet Uutoni 8-4 in the light-flyweight final.
The Namibian wasn’t going to give up his title easily and had closed to within a point by the end of the second round before the Holy Family fighter changed up through the gears.
He explained, “I always felt I had the fight under control. I took the foot of the pedal a bit in the second round and he caught me with a few stupid shots but even when the coaches told me I was only one up I knew what I could do and he wasn’t getting past my tight defence and I picked off my shots when I needed to.”
Barnes, who is funded by Sport Northern Ireland, became the first gold medal winner from the province in any sport for eight years and the first in boxing for sixteen since Neil Sinclair and Jim Webb both won Commonwealth titles at welterweight and light-middleweight in Victoria.
So how did this compare to his other successes?
“I rank this a little higher than the Olympics because I’ve won it, I’m a winner, not third. I’ve won the Commonwealth gold, I’m champion of Europe and next year champion of the world. It’s been the best year of my sporting life.”
If there was a fighter who epitomised the spirit within the squad it was 21 year-old welterweight Paddy Gallagher. He’d arrived not wanting to lose in the first round and five fights later was walking off with the gold medal after upsetting England’s Callum Smith 11-6.
Gallagher was all action giving it 120% for the three rounds and despite being smaller and with a shorter reach he came out swinging from his heels.
It left him open to the left jab of his opponent and the score was tied 5-5 after two rounds but then Gallagher scored four unanswered right hands at the start of the third to make his eventual victory a comfortable one.
“At the end of the second Stephen [Friel] gave me a big slap and said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ The game plan was to keep nice and tight, stay to his right and slip under every shot because he has a nice jab and good uppercut. I put everything into it. I wasn’t at the top of my game, but I am very happy with the outcome.”
He added, "I just went into my first fight thinking I want to do the best I can. When I got to the medal rounds I thought I had a chance. I had four tough fights to get here and to win gold is unbelievable."
Incredibly he still had the energy at the end to cartwheel his way across the ring before taking up the Usain Bolt stance much to the delight of the Indian crowd.
Light-heavyweight Tommy McCarthy and heavyweight Steven Ward had to settle for silver.
McCarthy, 19, was beaten 8-1 by Scot Callum Johnson.
He said, “I didn’t box the fight I needed to, I’m bitterly disappointed. On my day I’m really good, but I just used the wrong tactics.”
Ward was on the end of a right hook from the highly rated Simon Vallily from England. It knocked him to the canvas with 1:02 remaining in the first round and the referee stopped the fight with the Newtownabbey man already 6-1 down.
Coach Michael Hawkins explained, “You know what it’s like with heavyweight fighters. One shot can end the fight. He’s OK. I think his pride was hurt more than anything. The referee did the right thing. He must have looked in his eyes and called it a day.”
Hawkins and Stephen Friel have led the team here in Delhi but both have always been quick to point out the efforts of the Ulster Council in arranging for the team to train at the High Performance centre in Dublin and at the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland at Jordanstown in preparation for coming to the Games and they paid tribute to the individual coaches of the team.
Hawkins added, “They deserve great credit for getting the guys ready and most of them do it on a voluntary basis. Stephen and I are just the lucky ones to be here but we salute them.”
There was plenty more to cheer for Northern Ireland outside of the boxing ring.
In shooting David Calvert, who is funded by Sport Northern Ireland, added to his remarkable record in the Commonwealth Games by clinching the bronze in the full bore singles. In his ninth Games the 59 year-old, a member of Comber Rifle Club, has now won four gold and four bronzes.
With a score of 393 he was behind only Australian James Corbett (395) and winner Parag Patel who bagged the gold for England with a score of 396.
"I'm very pleased for their medals. They deserve it. They have worked hard for it. I'm delighted to win a medal. The nature of the sport is such that even a day matters in the overall performance,” said Calvert.
Ross McQuillan was ninth in the singles and the duo finished 8th in the pairs event.
While Northern Ireland’s greatest ever competitor in the Commonwealth Games is at the end of a sterling career, 20 year old Matthew Hall from Larne is just starting out but he underlined his potential by claiming the bronze in the men’s 50m rifle prone singles final.
Hall, a member of the East Antrim club and the Sports Institute of Northern Ireland, had qualified in third place for the final and held on to the medal despite tough competition from England’s Mike Babb.
He finished just a point behind Aussie Warren Potent and two adrift of Scot Jon Hammond took the gold.
Hall had been a silver medallist in the Commonwealth Youth Games last year.
"This was the hardest match I've ever shot. There was so much pressure because the conditions were difficult. We have trained here for two weeks and the wind has been very calm. But today it was a lot more windy out there,” said Hall. "I got a silver medal at the 2008 Youth Commonwealth Games in India and a Silver at the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney. So that's a medal each year. This is by far the most important one."
When he called home he explained the first thin he said to his family. "Prepare me a steak, I've only had chicken here in India."
Gary Duff from Dundonald ended up sixth.
There was a bronze medal for 22 year-old Gary Kelly in the men’s singles in bowling.
The Ballymoney man, who is funded by Sport Northern Ireland, missed out on a place in the final after losing his semi to world number two from Australia Leif Selby.
The first set was tied 9-9 when Kelly scored a four on the final end but lost the second 9-7.
“Yeah, I was disappointed. I played some big bowls in the first set and came from five behind in the second [set]. It was a tight game,” he explained.
He had to pick himself up for the bronze medal battle against England’s Sam Tolchard.
“I played against Sam when we were here in Delhi in April so I knew he was a tough opponent.”
Kelly lost the first set but overcame an early deficit in the next to win it 8-7 and force the tie-break over three extra ends. He eventually won 3-2.
“It’s a great feeling to come here and win a Commonwealth Games medal – it means a lot for me to represent Northern Ireland. It gives me confidence for the future.”
In cycling Wendy Houvenaghel finished in a very creditable sixth place in the women’s 29km time trial along the Noida Expressway just outside of the Indian capital this morning.
The Upperlands rider had focused her preparations entirely on the track individual pursuit in which she won a silver medal last week but showed she is a competent road time triallist as well.
Starting sixth from the end she produced a time of 39:34.97 just over 35 seconds behind winner Tara Whitten of Canada.
Sports Institute Northern Ireland athlete, Heather Wilson was fifteenth in 42:48.77 almost four minutes adrift.
The men’s event over a longer course of 40km saw Michael Hutchinson repeat his performance of four years ago and finish fourth +2:14 behind winner David Millar from Scotland.
Hutchinson commented, "These are my third Commonwealth Games and I was closest to the medals than I've ever been. It's a tough field here, so there's only so much you can do. I thought I went a wee-bit conservative, so I really picked it up in the final five kilometres. It was very, very, very hot. There was no shade at all. The heat, the wind, the dust, there was rubbish blowing across the road. There were no spectators. It was all rather bleak. It was just you and the road."
David McCann struggled, especially after his exertions in finishing fifth in the road race on Sunday, and withdrew after halfway.
