A dedicated Tipperary advocate of boxing on the development of a fantastic club

“We started in 1994 and the last 30 years just flew,” says Martin Fennessey of  Clonmel Boxing Club. I seem to have caught him in a reflective mood.

“I want people to be here when I am not here. That is why I am trying to set it all up for the younger lads.”
Genuine pride is in his eyes as he slowly looks around the gym saying, “there’s a lot of aul love in the place”.

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As I chat with Martin, the session is in full swing. A pair of eight-year-olds are training and there is at least one person to every punching bag, and they do not seem to be holding back. In the boxing ring, three young boxers each work with their own coach while teenagers stand in a circle running through floor exercises. People of all ages from all backgrounds like a piece of jazz - all doing different things but put it all together and it works.

Martin started boxing when he was just 11 years old in the Kickham Club in 1974. It wasn’t long before he got a few fights and a real love for both the sport and the training. “I loved boxing all my life,” he says. “Loved watching it, it’s a spectator sport… it was the glamour of it all. There used to be boxing tournaments in the gym and it was great excitement, the atmosphere.” At the time that was the only club, and it had no equipment, no boxing ring but the atmosphere was electric, he explains.

Martin continued to box at intermediate level even after he joined the army aged 22. When he went overseas with the job, the boxing fell away… but all that changed when he got a knock on the door from the Parish Priest.
That knock came one winter’s night in 1994, when the Priest from St Oliver’s in Elm Park said, “‘I hear you are a boxer,’ and I was looking at him with two heads because that was a long time ago.” There had been no club in Clonmel for 15 years. The priest said, “We are thinking of starting a boxing club, will ye come to a meeting?” Martin had three young children at the time but went anyway. And it was here, a tiny place at the back of the church, where it all began.
Timmy O’Connor, Martin’s neighbour, as well as TJ Redmond (secretary of the Munster Council Boxing Board) and Billy Kane (an ex-army sergeant major) were founding members.
Billy and TJ, two local men, were boxing their whole lives, with a wealth of experience. John Mackey and Keith Galvin joined the club as kids and have now stayed to help the club as officers, secretary and president. They also had huge support from the local community.

Martin laughs when he talks about the first night they opened the door in May 1995: “One hundred and fifty people showed up and we didn’t know what to do with them, so we ran them around the field, kept them busy like.” In the 1990s there were hundreds of kids in the estate with nothing to do. The priest started a few clubs and the boxing club is the only one left.
In the beginning, they did not have much experience of coaching.

“I knew all the boxing in my head but then to get it across and teach it is a different aspect to the sport. But when I married the love of the sport and how to teach, I think that helped,” he says.
Every child that comes through the door is different – their personality and their physicality. “We have some characters coming in here”. A few weeks ago, a young girl came in and said, “My mammy remembers you when you were skinny!”
In the early days there were tournaments all over the country and the breakthrough came after five years, when they won two Irish titles the same day.

IRELAND
When “one of the lads went to represent Ireland, came back with the Irish vest… we had huge media coverage and were inundated with people wanting to join the club,” he says. “The kids from this club were ordinary kids who signed up and then next thing they were on high performance squads, elite squads, travelling the world.”
Today, Clonmel Boxing Club has 130 national titles, two European bronze, two European gold and a world silver medal. They have 17 senior elite titles and two of the young boxers were out in Sarajevo at the European Championships over the summer.

Many of the experienced members are getting trained as coaches, referees and managers (roles they have filled for Ireland). The club will celebrate their 30th anniversary at the end of this year and with over 100 members and 200 people on the waiting list, the future is strong.

Martin explains that boxing takes time, often a decade to perfect the craft and more than anything he says, “Boxing is a technical sport. People think it is all aggression. It’s not. It’s probably 90% mental and 10% physical. It’s a way of life.” He describes a great boxer as being like spokes in a bicycle wheel - there are many different aspects you need to have right.
The gifts of listening, humility and honesty are very important in the sport. “A listener is huge, that can really listen to you and take on board what you are saying. And they might stop you and say, I don’t understand, can you explain? And that is what we love to hear,” he says.

Humility is also hugely important because “they will ask you what am I doing wrong? They are honest with themselves,” he says.
Boxers also need to control their self-talk and have resilience. The coaches help the kids learn ‘I can and I will’ - to believe in themselves. As a boxer, you also need to train more than your opponent, “putting the effort in outside the club: your lifestyle, in sleep, in nutrition,” he says.

“You see people coming in here and they win 25 fights and lose one and they are gone because they have no resilience built up,” he says. “One guy in the club lost 13 fights in a row. When he won the 14th he won for six years in a row, six Irish titles!”
Martin says that some of the members are so composed under pressure that they could be chess players. But, “when they go into the ring… it’s like they switch on, turn a light on… I call that genius, sporting intelligence, and you can see it in their eyes,” he says.

The truth is “not everyone is willing to do what a champion will do, not willing to go to any lengths to achieve the mission of being the best,” he says.
As the boxing session comes to an end, I watch Martin say goodbye to each of the kids. The coaches, Kenny, Raymond and Paige stay behind. They look to Martin as their mentor and the respect is clear.

INTERNATIONAL COACH
Kenny recently qualified as an international coach and says, “Martin is a great leader, he is always about everyone else,” and is great at developing a team spirit.

When I chat with Raymond, the first thing I notice is his black eye – a mark left from training for an upcoming competition. As an apprentice electrician “I was working 12 hour shifts and didn’t want to come to training but after I did, I would feel better. If I missed a week of training, I wouldn’t feel right in myself.” Paige (Kenny’s sister) agrees with Raymond that boxing does so much for your mental health and values the self-defence aspect. “I have a lot more confidence knowing I have the skill to protect myself,” she says.

Martin was born in Fr Mathew Terrace, Clonmel and his father (his greatest mentor) was a weightlifter. Martin married Paula, who he calls “the real boss” and they have lived in Elm Park for 42 years. They have four kids and four grandkids, most of whom have been involved in the club. Martin admits, “I came up here to help a few kids and ended up travelling the world.”
In the last few years, he is more of a mentor and wants the kids in the club to get a job and an education.
“We all get a kick out of seeing people progressing. Someone with no confidence can come in and then we see them with their head up, able to walk into a ring in a boxing stadium with 2,500 people and they are able to walk in, compose themselves keep their cool and box,” he says.

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When I ask Martin what his highlight is, he immediately points to a photo of Leah O Gorman.
“She came in to the club with a little bandana on as a child of nine. She had cancer. We were not sure whether to take her because we were afraid. Her mother asked if it was ok if she could train because she could not do anything else and was feeling left out. Leah joined and trained for three years. She got clear of cancer and cleared to fight, even getting into the All Ireland final. The following year, in 2019 she won the All Ireland,” he says.
Before Martin turns out the lights in the gym he points to the many framed pictures of members on the wall.

Each person has a winning smile that says ‘I made it’.
I know I am in the boxing club but as Martin shows me each of the photos it is as if I am in his sitting room, like he is taking them off his mantlepiece and one by one introducing me to his family. Because that is what the Clonmel Boxing Club is: family.