THE WALSH SIBLINGS, Aidan and Michaela, both won gold on a memorable day for Northern Ireland’s boxers at the Commonwealth Games.
On a day in which five gold medals, and one silver, were annexed in Birmingham, the pair of Irish Tokyo 2020 Olympians stole the headlines.
“I promised my grandad before he died I would win gold,” Michaela said afterwards, as quoted by BBC journalist Ade Adedoyin. “I really felt he was with me and that’s why my emotions came out on the podium. To do it with my brother means so much.”
Siblings Aidan and Michaela Walsh who both won gold. “I promised my grandad before he died I would win gold. I really felt he was with me and that’s why my emotions came out on the podium. To do it with my brother means so much” ##CommonwealthGames2022 #NorthernIreland #Boxing pic.twitter.com/s7Fr3DaEfF
— Ade Adedoyin (@ade_adedoyin) August 7, 2022
🗣️ "My granda was with me"
— BBC SPORT NI (@BBCSPORTNI) August 7, 2022
This is what it means as brother and sister duo @michaelaw57 and @aidanwalsh997 secure gold medals on a super Sunday in the ring for @GoTeamNI 🥇
More ⤵️ #BBCCWG #BBCBoxing
Michaela put on an exhibition against Nigeria’s Elizabeth Oshoba in the women’s 57kg featherweight final this evening, fighting on her own terms and refusing to be dragged into a brawl.
She dominated from pillar to post, and triumphed on a unanimous points decision.
“Michaela Walsh can at last call herself Commonwealth Games champion after two successive silvers,” as commentator Ron McIntosh said best. The glittering triumph banishes the painful final defeats of 2014 and 2018.
Earlier, her brother Aidan also claimed his first Commonwealth gold after an impressive victory over Tiago Osorio Muxanga of Mozambique in the men’s 71kg decider.
Aidan — who also took silver on the Gold Coast in ’18, but won bronze in Tokyo last summer, and – likewise, dominated his bout, knocking his opponent to the canvas in the first round and continuing in that convincing vein to also seal a unanimous points decision.
Commonwealth Champion 2022 🥇❤️ pic.twitter.com/OUcsIMqXrA
— Amy Broadhurst (@amybroadhurst12) August 7, 2022
Amy Broadhurst, Dylan Eagleson and Jude Gallagher also landed gold medals today.
Dundalk native Broadhurst continued her glittering year — she was crowned world champion in Istanbul in May — with a piece of history, as she became the first female boxer to win Commonwealth gold for Northern Ireland.
She saw off England’s Gemma Paige Richardson in the 60kg final, silencing the home crowd.
Eagleson added the 54kg Commonwealth title to his recent European silver, beating Ghana’s Abraham Mensah the hard way with a superb comeback win.
Gallagher came out on top of the men’s 57kg division after the forced withdrawal of his opponent Joseph Commey of Ghana, while Carly McNaul had to settle for silver in the women’s 50kg final after falling to India’s Nikhat Zareen.
