St. Paul’s to host Christmas Boxing Showcase
Its annual Christmas showcase, due to be held on Saturday, December 13th in their current home, will serve as a reflection of the club’s good health.
By Thomas Conway
There are two sides to the story of St. Paul’s Boxing Club over this past year.
On the one hand the club has been desperately seeking a new home, after it emerged that the existing tenancy of their premises just off Kenyon Street carpark was coming to end. The search has been difficult, stressful, and thus far fruitless - St. Paul’s are still looking for a new base.
But the other side of the story is that the club is thriving vigorously in terms of numbers and general enthusiasm. Its annual Christmas showcase, due to be held on Saturday, December 13th in their current home, will serve as a reflection of the club’s good health.
There is a bustling fight-card featuring more than sixteen high-quality bouts, involving male and female boxers from the ages of eleven up. There will be booming music, cut-throat tension, atmosphere, and everything that one would associate with a high-stakes professional fight.
Club vice-chairperson Brian Carr is appealing to the people of Nenagh, irrespective of whether they are boxing aficionados or not, to come on down and sample the entertainment.
Established some fifteen years ago, St. Paul’s has produced up to ten Irish champions and regularly collects Munster titles across various age-groups and weight categories. It has a well-organised academy-style development system which caters for young children and teenagers alike.
“We have junior classes which run from six to ten years of age, and then, when the kids are ten they move into the senior class and that runs right up to when they’re grown men and grown women. So, we have a fine variation of boxers there from all age-groups,” Carr explains.
Brian, who is also a coach, is sanguine in relation to the struggle to find a new home. He admits that the process has been wearying, but expresses confidence that the club will survive.
“I’ve no doubt we will find somewhere. We’ll get past that hurdle, and as long as the club stays thriving, we’ll figure something out,” he added.
Vital outlet
Despite the uncertainty surrounding the club’s future home, Brian says participation is the highest it has been in over a decade. St. Paul’s is a vital outlet for many children and teenagers in Nenagh and the surrounding region. Boxing requires fitness and agility, but it also teaches discipline, Brian says.
In some cases, the club is “keeping kids off the streets” by giving them a focus and a purpose. Ultimately however, the greatest issue facing St. Paul’s is funding. In order to continuously meet the demands of the young people of the area, a certain amount of money is required, just like any grassroots sporting organisation.
“Last year, in 2024, we had the biggest number of boxers we’ve had in the past ten years,” Carr revealed.
“And this year we’ve gone up again. It can be hard going, because it’s all voluntary, and there’s a lack of funding. The Boxing Association isn’t as well funded as a lot of the other sporting groups.”
Brian is effusive in his praise of the local businesses and politicians which have provided the club with sponsorship and support, both in recent times and in the past. Biotechnology company Regeneron kindly donated a new set of jerseys to the club recently, while St. Paul’s has been assisted by various councillors over the course of the past year. Pamela Quirke O’Meara has been especially helpful in terms of providing advocacy and advice, Brian says, describing the councillor as “a rockstar”.
Evidently, there is enough political and public will to save the club, enough young talent to sustain it, and enough coaching enthusiasts to nurture it. A solution must be found.