Ireland’s boxers prove a knockout success

BAKU delivered us some memorable images this week. Not least when Marty Morrissey, bearing the fixed grin of a man who knew what he was talking about, assured us that the Azerbaijani capital was “a romantic city, full of love”.

More palatably, there was John Joe Nevin springing gleefully into the ringside arms of his coach, having qualified for next summer’s Olympics with a countback verdict over Mongolian spellcheck buster Otgondalai Dorjnyambuu.

It was only the beginning for John Joe in a week that led to bronze, while former Kilkenny minor hurler Darren O’Neill and Belfast teenager Michael Conlan also joined the Mullingar man in punching their tickets to the London docklands.