By Sean Moriarty

There were great celebrations on the Ross Road in the early hours of Sunday morning when Kellie Harrington took gold for Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics.

Harrington become the second Irish woman, after Katie Taylor, to win an Olympic gold boxing medal, over the weekend.

The Dubliner’s first coach was a man called Paddy Osborne and his son Paddy Jr, a well-known local GAA coach and Kerry District League soccer referee who has been living in Killarney for years.

“He was just delighted,” Paddy Jr told the Killarney Advertiser. “I remember him telling me years ago about this young girl – he knew then she was going to be good. She was a kick-boxer first and she came to my dad as she wanted to be a boxer. He is the current vice-president of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association and worked with Katie Taylor and others – he gave his whole life to boxing. He told her back then that she would have to pick one or the other and she picked the boxing. She has really lifted the spirits of that area of inner city north Dublin.”

Paddy Jr has also written a book, ‘Baxter’s Boys’ based on an inner city Dublin soccer team.

“The book is based on a team my da formed during the height of the heroin pandemic in inner city Dublin. Sport means a lot to our family,” added Paddy.