She's gold: Ireland boxing captain reckons Kellie has too much for Ferreira

GOLDEN GIRL: Ireland lightweight Kellie Harrington goes for gold around 6 am on Sunday morning.

Irish boxing team captain Brendan Irvine has no doubt but that Kellie Harrington will be bringing the gold medal back to Dublin.

Harrington fights Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira in the final of the Olympic women’s lightweight division here in the Japanese capital tomorrow and it will mark a fascinating contrast of skills between the aggressive South American and the patient, tactical Irishwoman.

"If Kellie sticks to her boxing, the girl can't touch her,” said Irvine. “Obviously she will get hit but Kellie's best boxing is long distance, touching, getting out, countering behind punches and they will work very, very well with this girl because she steps in.

“I can only really see Kellie winning the fight. That's the honest truth.” 

These Tokyo Games have been something of a return to normality for the Irish boxing after the trauma and controversy of Rio six years ago and it’s worth noting that Harrington had only just won her first major medal, a silver at the World Championships in Astana, a handful of weeks beforehand.

The Games themselves she watched at home. Some journey.

Irvine was unlucky enough to meet, and lose to, a crack opponent in his first bout – just as he did in Rio – and he admits that the performances of Harrington and bronze medallist Aidan Walsh have kept the spirits high for the five Irish boxers who didn’t reach a podium.

"It just brings us that bit of excitement to have her in the gold medal fight. We're just cheering her on now that we're out and we're trying to support her as best as we can.

"If there's anything we can do we'll go out of our way and especially me as team captain, but it's a great buzz for the group.” 

Irvine is the only link between Rio and Tokyo inside the ring and, while he seems undecided as to where his own future path lies, he is fulsome in his praise for the elite boxing unit that has brought seven fighters to the world’s biggest stage.

"To be honest it's just a closer group of people together. We're all so close together as people, it's like a family. If we're feeling down or whatever, I can go and talk to Kurt. When I was feeling down after the fight, Kurt (Walker) and Emmett (Brennan) came in and picked me up, got me out of that slump.

"That's the same for everyone, we're such a close knit group and I think that's really why we're doing so well here.”

Meanwhile there was disappointment for Madison duo Mark Downey and Felix English as they failed to finish the 200-lap event in the Velodrome on Saturday.

Downey and English looked at home in the bunch for much of the race, however, they lost a lap mid-way through, resulting in a 20-point deduction. As with the women’s race, there were several crashes, with Poland and the USA both hitting the boards. Ireland avoided any such racing incidents.

As the pace accelerated into the final quarter, Ireland found themselves distanced off the back of a splintering bunch. A second lap loss meant they were pulled from the race and listed as a non-finisher (DNF) in 12th position alongside the USA, Canada, Australia, and Austria.

It took just 50 minutes to cover the 50-kilometre distance as teams averaged a blistering 59.690km/h in hot and humid conditions. Pre-race favourites Michael Mørkøv and Lasse Norman Hansen of Denmark claimed the gold medal scoring in 14 of the 20 intermediate sprints.

TANDEM: Ireland's Mark Downey and Felix English in the Men's Madison at the Izu Velodrome in Shizuoka 

Speaking afterwards, English said: “That was one of the fastest, well, the fastest race we’ve ever done.

“We didn’t really know what to expect, but it was certainly a shock to the system once we got out there. When it was on, the speed was just phenomenal really. It’s stepped up another 10, 20 per cent from Worlds last year.

“It was a struggle. We fought as long as we could but ultimately, it wasn’t enough today.” 

Downey, who finished 17th in the Olympic Omnium added: “It’s going to take a while to take the positives from it, but me and Felix have had a rough journey to get here, and we said we would give it our best out there today.

“We have to be proud of the journey we have had, we can’t be disappointed, but just as athletes, we want to compete, we want to fight. We want to be there at the end but today, we weren’t, so back to the drawing board.” 

Sunday is the last day of action from the Tokyo Games and is set to be another busy one for Team Ireland. First in action will be Kevin Seaward, Paul Pollock and Stephen Scullion as they set off in the Men’s Marathon from 11pm Irish time Saturday. Cyclist Emily Kay will tackle the Women’s Omnium from 2am Irish time, before Kellie Harrington boxes for gold in the Women’s Light (57-60kg) final. The bout is scheduled for around 6am Sunday Irish time.

The closing ceremony is around noon Irish time Sunday with Modern Pentathlete, Natalya Coyle named as the flagbearer for Team Ireland for the event.