‘True blue’ Dunne goes into battle for Dublin

BERNARD DUNNE may no longer be the WBA world super bantamweight champion but he is still Dublin’s favourite son and if he wanted reassurance, he got it at Dublin City Hall yesterday when he was given a standing ovation by representatives of more than 200 sporting organisations from around the city.

He was chosen from a galaxy of stars from all the major sports to be the main speaker when Dublin Lord Mayor Eimer Costelloe, announced that Dublin had been chosen as the European Capital of Sport 2010 and will take over the mantle from Milan in February.

Dunne was not talking about Saturday night’s defeat at the hands of Poonsawat Kratingaenggym, or his future for that matter — that’s all for another day — but he admitted that he had made what he described as “a big decision” to turn out so early after the fight. “This is all about Dublin and there is no way I was going to miss out on it,” he said. “We all know what happened on Saturday but today is about Dublin and I am a true blue at heart and I wanted to be a part of it.