Rebels ready to rumble in charity show

CORK footballers, who have been training with Rylane Boxing Club for the past six weeks, will show off their new skills when they touch gloves in a celebrity charity boxing tournament at the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork, on December 27.

It’s hardly surprising tickets are selling like proverbial hot cakes with such an array of talent on show. The proceeds will go to ‘Breaking the Silence’, a Cobh-based charity that conducts research initiatives to determine how best to support the community around suicide and provides Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training, as well as courses.

For more than six weeks, 24 members of the Cork football panel have been training under Dan Lane, one of the country’s leading boxing coaches, at Rylane Boxing Club just to keep ticking over in the off-season.

“It started a few years ago when Noel O’Leary, who boxed with Rylane as a juvenile, and a few others, went to train with Rylane,” the Cork sub goalkeeper, Kevin Murphy, said.

“This year it grew to about 24 and about a month ago a few of us got together and decided, seeing as we were training, to try and run a tournament for some charity.

“A five-man committee was elected and Sean O’Brien from Nemo got the job of researching the charities and came back with Breaking the Silence.”

Murphy said they were looking forward to the tournament, pointing out that they were enjoying the boxing training and now everyone wanted to see what was like to actually fight.

“One thing we learned is anybody can throw a punch but taking one is another thing – learning to get hit and survive the heavy hits. It teaches you good discipline and it is very good for general fitness. Dan (Lane) showed us very good training methods.

“You can run around Croke Park for an hour and 10 minutes and still be relatively okay but after three minutes in a ring you are on your knees gasping for wind. It’s a different type of fitness.”

Judge Michael Pattwell, patron of Breaking the Silence, said he was honoured to be associated with the charity and to be surrounded by some of his heroes.

“There are two things worth fighting for – life is the primary one and the Sam Maguire Cup probably comes a close second,” he said.

It was important fighting should be within the rules and he felt sure Dan Lane would have the participants well tutored in the Queensbury Rules.

Lane himself said he was looking forward to sitting down next week and matching the participants.

“It was a great honour to be asked to train such a talented bunch of athletes,” he said. “It was a labour of love. There is a long GAA tradition in my family. I am named after my grandfather who captained the first Cork team to win an All-Ireland hurling title.

“As regards boxing skills they have come on in leaps and bounds and a number of them have had contests already. Michael Shields had a great win in Macroom on Saturday night and Pearse O’Neill boxed a very good exhibition. I can guarantee that there will be some excellent entertainment on December 27 when we will have some guest boxers on the bill.”

John Joe Joyce, who boxed in the Olympics last year, will take on Rylane’s two-time national senior champion, Seanie Barrett, in an exhibition.