BY MICHAEL O’LEARY
Marble City Boxing Club head coach Garry Kehoe has made remarkable progress through the coaching ranks in recent years, and 2023 was a year to remember for Garry as he was coach for Team Ireland that won gold medals in both The European Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Championships along with The World Junior Championships.
The Marble City Club have enjoyed whirlwind success over the past three years with 11 National titles, and that included Jack Johnson’s recent Gold Medal which he won in The National under-age Championships. As mentioned 2023 was a year to remember for Garry.
In August, at The European Schoolboy/Schoolgirl Championships in Maribor, Slovenia, he helped deliver Team Ireland’s best ever finish in the overall medals table, finishing as the third best team with three gold, one silver and seven bronze medals, while he was also Coach with The Ireland Team that returned home from the World Junior Championships in Yerevan, Armenia with two World Champions and a World bronze medalist.
The Marble City Club have gone from strength to strength in recent years particularly under Garry’s leadership, as they have enjoyed All-Ireland glory while the Club have had several representatives for Ireland across the various International competitions.
Different generations of the Kehoe family have been involved since the club was founded in 1992, including Garry’s grandfather Noel Kehoe who was a founding member of the club and a wonderful stalwart in boxing circles.
Garry has also become a well known figure in boxing circles not just locally, and his reward for Coaching Team Ireland to European and World Championship glory was just reward for his coaching progression, in particular the growth of The Marble City Boxing League that brought about Boxers from around Ireland but also Cross-Channel.
A testament to how successful the League has been is that several fighters who have participated have gone on to become All-Ireland Champions, while several fighters involved have gone on to win Medals at European and World Championships.
One of those fighters who won a National title was Jack Johnson who recently won The U-18 60KG competition the hardest way possible. Jack won 5 fights on his way to winning the gold medal, and he was adding to the U-16 title he won last year having suffered a lot of heartbreak in Semi-Finals and Finals prior to that.
He will now represent Ireland for The first time at The European Youths in April, while also heading into The High Performance Unit in Dublin.
Garry Kehoe’s influence both within The Marble City Club and Team Ireland has been phenomenal, and he will unquestionably have a major role to play in the success of Boxing in Ireland into the future.
