Oakleaf ABC to celebrate 30 years with Maldron Hotel show

Oakleaf ABC, 30th Anniversary Tournament

Maldron Hotel

First contest- 8pm, Doors Open 7:30pm

Admission £8, £4 (Pay at Door)

Oakleaf ABC will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a gala show at the Maldron Hotel tomorrow night.

There are quite a few top-class contests down for decision.  The local side will be taking on an Ulster Select which will be heavily loaded by Holy Trinity boxers from Belfast. Presenting the prizes will be former Oakleaf boxer Brett McGinty who is now a professional, and unbeaten at Light Middleweight under the tutelage of boxing legend Ricky Hatton. McGinty will incidentally be making this appearance ahead of his homecoming in Dublin on November 17 at the National Stadium.

Tomorrow’s show will feature a lot of rising stars and current stars, namely Jack Harkin, the current Irish Youth champion, who is off to the World championships in Spain later this month. He will feature in a special contest with Blaine Dobbins, who is making a welcome return to the ring. Oakleaf would like to thank Blaine for helping Jack in his preparation in winning the Irish title, having sparred Jack a number of times and helped his fellow Oakleaf boxer get that important title and the selection for the world championships. It should be an interesting contest between the two.

Another rising star who will be in action is current Belfast Halloween Box Cup champion Bernie Stokes, who has improved immensely in the past year. Young Stokes himself was very unlucky not to win an Irish title this year, and join his club mate Harkin on the trip to Spain, He lost on a split decision to Lee Colgan from Avona, Dublin who eventually won the 60-kilo youth title. Stokes is facing an opponent from Holy Trinity which should be one of the highlights of the evening.

Also on the card are two prominent girl boxers in Eabha Kelly and Charlie Irvine. Charlie was unlucky in two Irish finals this year. A former European medalist, she takes on Connie Gribbins from St. Bronagh’s in Newry which should be another great contest. Young Kelly meanwhile takes on Kerrie Brown from the Convoy club in Donegal, two evenly matched boxers who should put on quite a show for the crowd at the Maldron.

There are several other bouts on the night which will no doubt keep the packed audience on their feet on what is a very important night for Oakleaf ABC.

“We have run so many shows at the Maldron these past 30 years,” Eugene O’Kane recalled. “Our first venue was the old St. Eugene’s Parish Hall which was unfortunately lying vacant this past number of years, but the Maldron has been our home for the past number of years and we have had some great contests in there, notably featuring the Canadians who came over twice to box.

“The 30 years seem to have flown by so quickly,” he continued. “There have been a lot of boxers passing through the doors and we could simply not count how many there have been. We have had some great boxers.

“It is now great to see some former boxers bringing their sons and in some cases their grandsons, to the junior classes which we run twice a week. The future of Oakleaf is bright with a brand-new purpose-built gymnasium to start shortly in the Daisyfield. It has been a rocky road at times, but the future of Oakleaf Boxing club is secure for another 30 years.”

O’Kane himself was the one who started Oakleaf ABC back in 1992 and the years have simply flown by with some memorable characters being a part of the club on the way.

“I was out building in Grangemore and I said to a fellow bricklayer that I was going to start a boxing club. This was just after the Barcelona Olympics. Another fella suggested the name ‘Oakleaf’ and since then we’ve come on leaps and bounds.

“Our first champion was Eugene McCallion who won the D&D Championships. Eugene O’Kane Junior was our first Ulster champion, Gearoid McGilloway was our first Irish champion and Sean McGlinchey our first Ulster Elite champion.

“There have been a lot of coaches who have helped along the way, boys like Duxie Donnelly, Beaky Burke, Daniel McDaid, who was our first coach, the McGilloway brothers, Gearoid and Kevin, Ambrose Moore. We have a great selection of coaches now, from Eugene O’Kane Junior, Raymond Rogan, Housty Doherty, Johnny Kelly and Eunny Devenney all helping out at the club and the future looks great as a result.”

Long-lasting

O’Kane takes huge pride in how far the club has come, especially when some people didn’t think Oakleaf would last long at all when the club first opened its doors.

“I’m very, very proud,” he admitted. “When I started the club up, a lot of people had reservations and one person was quoted as saying “I give them six months”. 30 years is a long six months so we’re doing well and the future looks bright for Oakleaf Boxing Club.

“Everybody is welcome at Oakleaf Boxing Club whether you’re there as a champion or whether you’re there to just try and keep fit. Some mothers even send their children to the club to try and keep them out of bother on the streets, and that’s what it’s all about.

“Boxing clubs, not just us, but all boxing clubs cater for all sections of the community, and it is gratifying for me to look back on those 30 years and say ‘I was part of that’. I have good people on board now who are going to follow on from that and it’s a great feeling to know that I can leave it in the hands of other people now like my son, who is the Head Coach.”