Yard sales in philadelphia ‘This is it…..I’m going to be an Olympian’ – Gallagher’s joy

Tyrone featherweight Jude Gallagher says booking his Olympic Games place at the World qualifier in Italy is “unreal stuff”.

Gallagher dominated Turkmenistan’s Sukur Ovezov to become the sixth Irish boxer to qualify for the Paris Games.

As emotions continued to whirl round his mind on the morning after, Gallagher recalled watching the 2012 London Olympics as a 10-year-old.

“I was in primary seven and we had a summer scheme on in school,” he said.

“I had just won my first Irish title. I remember the teacher Master McGlone, used to come out to me when we were out playing in the yard and would say ‘the boxing’s on…..do you want to come in and watch it?’.

“I would sit inside and watch the fights. That’s my first memory of watching the Olympics. Now 12 years later to be qualified for the Paris Olympics is unreal stuff.

“It’s something I’ve always dreamed about since I starting boxing. And even yesterday after that final bell when I realised ‘this is it….I’m going to be an Olympian’, the emotions just came out.”

Newtownstewart native Gallagher had started boxing two years earlier as an eight-year-old when he joined his brother Noel at the Bishop Kelly Club in Eskra.

“It was just something I tried out and I took a liking to it straight away. I just kept at. Kept training.”

All the long hours of training that began at the Bishop Kelly Club culminated in Gallagher producing the perfect performance to outclass Ovezov in Monday’s crunch quarter-final bout in Busto Arsizio near Milan.

The judges had not been particularly kind to the Ireland team in northern Italy but Gallagher “took it out of their hands” by producing his best display of the week following three earlier wins.

“I didn’t expect the fight to go as well as it did. I didn’t expect to give him a count or put him down but that’s just the way it worked out,” added the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist.

“I knew coming out here it was going to be a big challenge with at least four fights to qualify and in a stacked division with top fighters from across the world.

“I just took it one fight at a time. I never looked ahead or who I could potentially meet. Just one fight and one round at a time.

“Thankfully as the tournament went on, I got better and better and last night was my best performance when I needed it most.”

Gallagher added that it was fitting that Damian Kennedy was in the Irish corner along with head coach Zaur Antia as the fighter celebrated the biggest moment of his boxing career.

“I said to Damian last night after the fight ‘Black Forest Cup’.

“We actually went to the Black Forest Cup in Germany with an Ulster team whenever I was 11 or 12 and he was the coach. Now going from the Black Forest Cup to potentially both of us going to an Olympic Games is some journey.

“The lads are top, top men. I’m so thankful for everything they have done coaching wise for me. We’ve been working together since I joined the high performance unit when I won my first elite title aged 18.

“I put my full trust in them and I know if I relax, stay calm and stick to what they are telling me, that I can get the job done.”

Gallagher’s “number one fan”, his father John was among the family members and friends Italy ringside who joined Jude for ecstatic post-fight celebrations which had to be brief as he was soon whisked away for a drugs test.

“He has driven me around the country since I was no age. He’s a big part of my boxing and my life too. It’s very much his achievement as well as mine.”

The boxer’s phone had also gone “mental” amid the congratulatory messages and Gallagher is now looking forward to a week at home and the chance to hook up with his family and friends before travelling back to Dublin next Tuesday to continue Olympic preparations that are now very much for real.

“It will be back for training. There’s a job to do,” added Gallagher, whose personal joy was tempered by disappointment for team-mates Grainne Walsh and Kelyn Cassidy after their hopes of securing Olympic qualification in Italy were dashed by agonising split-decision quarter-final defeats.