Golden girl Katie visits Cobra

GOLDEN Cobra had a very special experience when boxing superstar Katie Taylor paid a visit to the club to run a few sessions with fighters of all ages.

After fighting on home soil for the very first time since turning professional on May 20, Taylor wanted to pay it forward by giving back to four local clubs.

Taylor dusted herself down after suffering her first defeat, at the hands of Chantelle Cameron, and cast her eye over fighters from Golden Cobra, Westside, St Mary’s and Sacred Heart boxing clubs.

Hosting three different sessions across the morning, on Sunday, May 28, Taylor did some technical work with kids, teens and adults before engaging in a question-and-answer session.

“Overall, it was a brilliant day for us.

“Katie was great, she did pad work with a lot of the kids and teens, and even the adults,” Eddie Hyland, who runs Golden Cobra, tells The Echo.

“She was just so humble, signing all autographs for everybody.

“It was an amazing day for us, we couldn’t have asked for a better thing to happen with the club.”

Golden Cobra was founded by the late Paddy Hyland snr in Jobstown in 1990, with the club flourishing under the tutelage of the Hyland family.

Following Paddy’s tragic passing in 2015, the Hyland brothers turned their attention away from Golden Cobra before re-establishing the club to coincide with the 30th anniversary in 2020.

Spearheading the new Golden Cobra are the three Hyland brothers, Eddie, Patrick and Paul along with their cousin Daniel Hyland, uncle Paul Hyland, Aodh Carlyle and Tommy McCormack.

When Taylor walked through the doors of Golden Cobra on May 28, it was a moment of poignancy for the Hyland family.

“It was my dads anniversary there on Saturday and I’m sure he was smiling down on us because of what we’re doing bringing Golden Cobra back,” Eddie says.

“Katie would have been training with us when she was younger up in the club all the time.

“My dad loved her, he always told us that she was going to be a superstar and the man wasn’t wrong, was he?

“She’s a one and only.”

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