Gold rush for ION Kickboxing Club at nationals

THERE’S gold in them Castletownbere hills! Well, there is now after the recent success of ION Kickboxing Club at the Kickboxing Ireland national championships in Dublin.

The club sent seven fighters to the nationals and they brought FIVE gold medals back to West Cork, including a hat-trick of gold medals for the Brady brothers, Oisin, Oran and Bernard Jnr – and all three are coached by their father, Bernard.

Competing on the mats, Oisin, fighting at senior level for the first time, dropped down in weight to the -69kg light contact – and he dominated to win gold. He will be in action in the second round of the nationals in the weeks ahead as he looks to lock in that gold medal. Coláiste Pobail Bheanntraí Leaving Cert student Oisin also fought in the points section where he won a silver medal.

Sixteen-year-old Oran, fighting in the junior section and -84kg category, entered three events: light contact, points and kick light. He won gold in both the light contact and kick light, and also qualified to represent Ireland later in the year. Oran will also compete in the full-contact Irish nationals this month.

Two club members, Bernard Jnr, in his first national championships, and Jack O’Neill fought each other in their young cadets -42kg final, with Bernard winning gold and Jack bringing home silver. 

Kayleigh Lehane was in medal-winning form, too, and won gold in older cadet kick light and a bronze medal in light contact, while Julia O’Sullivan won bronze in points at junior level. Ronan Elphick was fighting at his first national championships and will take a lot of learnings from the experience.