St Mary’s welcome home their Olympic hero Kellie
Ireland's newest Olympic boxing champion Kellie Harrington pictured with members of her club St Mary's BC, Tallaght, Deborah Burke, Aoife Burke, Mel Leonard, Sinead Leonard, Ciaran Bates and Dylan Bates on her return home from Tokyo on Tuesday. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile

St Mary’s welcome home their Olympic hero Kellie

ST MARY’S Boxing Club coach and secretary, Mel Leonard was beaming with pride as he and a number of other members of the club welcomed home their Olympic hero Kellie Harrington from Tokyo on Tuesday.

The 2018 World champion, who joined the Tallaght club some six years ago and is coached by Noel Burke, lit up the nation in the early hours of Sunday morning when she beat Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira in the lightweight final to become Ireland’s third Olympic boxing gold medallist.

“We’re absolutely delighted. We’re over the moon,” Leonard told The Echo.

“Kellie deserves nothing less than what she’s got. She’s a thoroughly genuine person. What you see is what you get with Kellie and we’re just so delighted for her.

“When she comes in the door of our club she just lifts the place.

Kellie Harrington celebrates with her gold medal in Tokyo Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

“She has time for all the small kids, the Boy Ones and the Girl Ones right the way up. She’s such a lovely person,” he said.

Harrington, who now joins Michael Carruth and Katie Taylor among an exclusive group of Irish Olympic boxing champions, served up a tremendous performance against 2019 World champion Ferreira as she battled back from 3-2 down in the opening round to win Sunday’s final on a unanimous decision.

Leonard praised the composure of the St Mary’s jewel, saying: “It was a brilliant performance by her in the final on Sunday.

“After the first round, I knew she had to turn it on and she did exactly what she was told to do by her corner.

“She had gone over this with Noel [Burke] before, all the different boxers and she knew what she had to do after that first round and she did it. She went out and executed the plan to perfection.”

Asked what such a feat means to the club, he said: “It’s just great for little St Mary’s Boxing Club, founded in 1978 by the late Johnny Riordan along with Noel Burke snr, John Boyle and Paddy Myles.

St Mary’s Boxing Club coach Noel Burke with Olympic Champion Kellie Harrington

“Many, many kids have passed through the club and so many have been ringing and congratulating everyone here.

“We’ve had some great boxers down through the years, the likes of Terry Mahony back in the 1980s. He now runs a boxing gym in Australia.

“We had the late David Hughes from the Old Bawn Road there who just fell short of the Olympics.

“Among our other former national champions back in the early years we had myself and my brother Shay, Noel Burke jnr, Mark Sheridan, Mick Sheridan, Tommy O’Reilly, Karl Holmes, Noel Hardiman and later Michael McDonagh.

“We have Elite champion George Bates who just missed out on qualification for the Tokyo Olympics by one point. We were devastated for George, to lose by just one point in the last qualifying match.

“Kellie made it through thankfully and she was brilliant in Tokyo.

“And we have more girls coming through. Aoife Burke, she won an Irish Elite Championship the same year as Kellie and George in 2019. She’s going to be something special.

“We’ve some really great boxers and we’re now setting our sights on Paris 2024.”

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