Olympic qualifiers - Good news for Ireland

It WAS nice to have something to cheer about in the Olympics.

Boxers Paddy Barnes and Kenny Egan both qualified for Olympic semi-finals yesterday and thus guaranteed themselves medals.

Whether those are gold, silver, or bronze will be decided in the coming days.

The hopes that they will progress further must be high, as both won their quarter-final fights decisively. There are also high hopes that Darren Sutherland will join them when he takes to the ring in his quarter-final contest today.

The BBC commentators remarked favourably on the “racket” that the Irish supporters were making in the audience in backing the Irish boxers. There were chants of Olé, you’ll never beat the Irish, and there was even a rendition of The Fields of Athenry.

It was reminiscent of the heady days of Barcelona in 1992 when Michael Carruth won Ireland’s only gold medal in boxing and Wayne McCullough won a silver. Barcelona was relatively close to home, but this time they were on the other side of the world.

Those supporters evoked memories of the magnificent supporters of the Irish soccer team.

Giovanni Trapatoni will be completing his preparations for the dawn of a new era with the final friendly international against Norway today before the start of the qualifying for the next World Cup.

In the midst of our appalling “summer” weather, we salute those in Beijing who have been doing us proud. Our Olympic boxers are responsible for floods of a welcome kind — the floods of pleasant memories, and the hope of more to come.