Edel proud of her old friend Katie

FORMER senior and underage soccer international Edel Malone played soccer with and against Olympic medallist Katie Taylor from U-12 level upwards. They also played together at several levels for the international team, while they featured in the 1999 U-13 Kennedy Cup final, when they were the only girls on their respective teams.

“The first time we got to know each other was when we played against each other at U-12 level. Katie played with Lourdes Celtic. We would have met then at U-13 level in the Kennedy Cup and we ended up in the bowl final against each other.

“I think there was three girls in the tournament altogether. Then we would have got to know each other more and more at provincial level and at underage national level,” Edel explained from New York, where she lives and works.

“We would have played together at U-17 and U-19 and then with the senior team as well. Over that time there was a bunch of us who would have got to know each other. Over time you get to build camaraderie with each other. With training at weekends up in Dublin we would have become very friendly as a group. It was through that time that we would have really got to know each other,” the Ennis girl added.

Although Edel hasn’t met Katie for some time, they keep in touch via text. “The last time we met was two Christmases ago. We were out in Dublin with a bunch of the soccer girls. It would be through text mostly that we’d be in touch and through Sue Byrne, one of her best friends,” Edel explained, adding that she saw Katie’s fights on deferred coverage on NBC.

Meanwhile, Ennis Boxing coach Ollie Markham has predicted a huge upsurge in boxing among girls.
“They definitely will. When Michael Carruth came back from Barcelona in 1992, all the youngsters from all over were coming into the club. They were coming into every club all over the country,” he recalled.

Boxing authorities are planning to fund clubs so they can faciliate female boxers. “A lot of the clubs have only facilities for boys but they’re going funding the clubs so they can have facilities for the girls,” Ollie said.

As for Katie, he said she had a worthy opponent in Sofya Ochigava. “Katie got a tough fight of it in the final. Ochigava was a very technical boxer. Katie was stronger than the Russian but the Russian was that bit more technical. But a win is a win whether it’s by one point or 10 points,” Ollie Markham concluded.