The hammer-thrower from Kilkenny was carrying a serious knee injury into the Games and, as expected, her performance was a long way off her personal best. On Monday, the eight-time Irish champion crashed out. But in the run up to Beijing, O'Keefe's preparation had left a lot to be desired.

Instead of having the run of the facilities at the National Athletics Stadium in Santry, Dublin, she was told that she wasn't allowed to practise hammer-throwing there as it damaged the pitch -- which is used by football side Sporting Fingal.

She resorted to bringing buckets of sand with her when training, in order to fill the holes left by the hammer, but Fingal County Council called time on her training.

It reads like a précis for a sitcom. Here's one of Ireland's most consistently strong medal contenders, and she is prohibited from practising her technique at the country's most prestigious track and field arena.

And it gets worse. Eventually, under pressure from the Irish Athletics Federation, a hammer throwing stadium was built in Santry a distance from the football pitch. But the only time O'Keeffe used it, she damaged her hip.

Roy Keane famously refused to accept such conditions at the World Cup six years ago, but Eileen O'Keefe was more diplomatic. She put her head down and got on with it. But had she not been injured, she may well have had to count the true cost of preparations that were largely out of her hands.

Ireland's performance in the track and field part of this Olympics has been nothing short of disastrous.

Hurdlers Derval O'Rourke and Michelle Carey crashed out early on, way off the standard expected of them before the Games.

After impressing in the heats, Roisin McGettigan finished last in the steeplechase final.

Most disappointing of all was the performance of 400m hurdler David Gillick, one of Ireland's strongest competitors in recent years, who ran sluggishly. "I ran crap and I'm out," was his stark appraisal of flopping so badly. "I felt I kind of got out well, but when I turned the bend I just felt like I had nothing, that's my slowest time all season. Right now I feel wrecked."

The bad run of form continued into other sports, from trap shooting to swimming. In the latter sport, young hopeful Melanie Nocher had to momentarily stop in her race to adjust her goggles as they had become filled with water. As if that wasn't enough, she was forced to change her headgear before the swim as the cap supplied to her didn't meet Olympic requirements.

What looked like a truly woeful Olympics for Ireland, every bit as bleak as the Athens Games of four years ago where the country failed to win a medal, suddenly changed on Tuesday when boxers Paddy Barnes, Kenny Egan and Darren Sutherland all triumphantly got into the medals.

Compared to the gold rush experienced by Team Great Britain -- who are having their best Olympics in 100 years -- three medals may not make a huge mark on the honours table, but it changes the complexion of Ireland's performance at Beijing.

Boxing stands out as a beacon amid the mundane achievements of the 11 other sports represented by Irish athletes in China.

"There's absolutely no doubt about it, but Ireland's success in boxing at these Olympics are as a direct result of the support and funding that's been given to the sport over the past number of years," says Paul McDermott, spokesman of the Irish Sports Council.

"The introduction of a high-performance programme and an increase in funding has paid dividends."

The Council funds boxing to the tune of €600,000 per annum, and also grant aided the gym at the National Stadium -- Irish boxing's HQ -- which has resulted in a massive upgrading of the facilities afforded to the sport. There are now three rings for training instead of one. There are more punch bags. And there is innovative high-tech monitoring equipment that has so impressed Russia's boxing federation that it is set to do business with the Irish Amateur Boxing Association.

As a result of these measures, young boxers get a comprehensive coaching package that's totally professional in its approach. After years of operating on a tiny budget and relying on the goodwill of volunteers, Irish boxing has moved to a new level. We are viewed enviously by other countries who hope to copy our model, including the aforementioned Russians -- previously among the world's finest amateur boxers.

Every aspect of each individual's performance is monitored and fed through specially devised computer programmes. Diet is carefully scrutinised and each boxer's progress is carefully graphed with goals set empirically. Guesswork and gut feeling have been abandoned. Furthermore, a sports psychologist, Gerry Hussey, has been working with the boxers in Beijing.

"The medals are great, but that's not the only story," McDermott says. "Boxing clubs have noticed an increase in membership as a result of the initiative. This is a tangible example of sport doing good for the community, and by the nature of boxing's traditional support base, this is helping some of the most disadvantaged people in society."

Despite the boxing success, Dermot Henihan, the chef-de-mission of the Irish Olympic Team, was an outspoken critic of the country's performance this week.

"Either the talent just isn't there or the talent isn't being brought out that should be brought out," he told Newstalk on Wednesday. "There are a lot of good people out there. They are not getting the results that they should be getting.

"Everything is measurable in some form or fashion and we must take a good solid measurement on this or otherwise we'll be doing this interview post-London, post-2016, post 2010 if something isn't done. Hard decisions have to be made. No one wants disappointment, no one wants to be coming in last, no one wants to be straggling behind."

But other sports have been funded in the same manner as boxing. The Irish Sports Council donated €34 million to the Beijing Olympic effort, more than double the amount earmarked for Athens in 2004 and Sydney in 2008.

Some 250 athletes across a range of disciplines receive funding with the cream of those -- such as David Gillick -- pulling in sponsorship money.

McDermott says the Council is happy with Ireland's results so far. "It is our view that we have done okay. Our target was six finalists or the equivalent and we've hit that mark and we've hit medals too. We have 54 people representing Ireland at these games, and that's a healthy figure -- some of them have done very well and some of them haven't done as well as they had hoped. But that's sport. I'm sure Russia's boxers and Australia's swimmers are disappointed about the way these Games have gone for them.

"I want to stress that the Sports Council is not afraid to set targets, but our remit is not just about the elite end of sport, but the wider, grassroots picture."

John Considine, UCC economics lecturer and a former Cork hurler, has carried out intensive published research on the area of sports funding. "Returns, in the form of medals, can be achieved when funding is increased -- that's clear -- but it's not an exact science," he says. "If the raw materials aren't there in an athlete, he or she can't be turned into a world-beater irrespective of the amount of money sent their way.

"It also takes time to see a return on investment. That's happened with the British Olympic team this year where support and facilities were put in place many years ago. And it's going to get even better for them, because they will be hosting the 2012 Games so every discipline will have state-of-the-art amenities."

The experience of Eileen O'Keeffe shows even the basics aren't always right here. Furthermore, Irish athletes aren't in a position to compete in certain sports, such as track cycling (an area that Britain has dominated this time around) because the country doesn't have an indoor velodrome.

"You know there was a velodrome planned for the original Abbotstown," McDermott says, of the controversial "Bertie Bowl" and its ancillary facilities, "but the whole plan didn't seem to excite the public in a way that it might. In fact, there was a lot of opposition to it in one way or another.

"Last year, the Council was criticised for its funding of boxing following the World Championships, but a knee-jerk reaction to stop the money would have been a huge mistake. Now, thanks to Paddy Barnes, Kenny Egan and Darren Sutherland, the country sees that this investment has paid off."

But while the boxing team will be heading back to Dublin in jubilant fashion, the stars of track and field will have little to smile about on the long flight home.

And the recriminations are already flying. Alistair Cragg, interviewed after his 5,000m heat when he finished sixth and thought he wasn't in the final, hit out at the older generation of Irish distance athletes, claiming that some of the former middle and long distance runners put down the current crop of Irish athletes to maintain their own legend with the Irish public. After his emotional outburst the next heat was particularly slow, and he found that he'd made it as a faster loser.

But his comments made the headlines.

And it seems certain that the fallout from a mixed Olympics is likely to rumble on for some time to come.

- John Meagher

After an afternoon of allegations and drama outside the ring at the Workers’ Gymnasium, the International Boxing Association (AIBA) were forced to admit that they are revising the daily draws for officials and referees, which are usually done randomly by a computer.

This is because “two months prior to the competition AIBA obtained information regarding a possible attempt on the part of certain individuals, both within the organisation and within the competition officials, to manipulate the competition.”

This extraordinary revelation, coming hot on the heels of some questionable decisions again yesterday, heightened allegations of dodgy judging and matchfixing within amateur boxing. And several top experts, including NBC’s Jim Gray, specifically raised the case of Paddy Barnes, questioning the legitimacy of the scoring which failed to give the young Belfast fighter a single point against his Chinese opponent. “It was apparent to some of us that this was predetermined,” Gray alleged.

“I would totally agree that it’s a bit disheartening for a boxer to leave the ring after four rounds of what appeared to be a very busy contest with a zero,”said the tournament’s technical director Terry Smith. “It’s not our wish to do so, but unfortunately it’s one of the drawbacks of the system we have in place.” To score a point, three of the five judges must agree simultaneously and Smith said that while some of the judges gave Barnes 7-8 points, others gave him 4-5, but they did not come together and materialise as actual scores.

“I’ll be the first to admit that not every point scored in boxing is recorded,” Smith said. “But we just know that most of the time the right boxer wins.” Regarding the attempted bribing of officials, Smith said that the revision of match officials was based on no concrete evidence but was a precaution because of a lot of rumour and innuendo. However, AIBA also would not clarify what they meant when they said that, “after the situation became more serious,” they notified the International Olympic Committee (IOC), who now also have an independent observer monitoring the daily draws for match officials.

The scandal broke last night because earlier in the day another of the tournament’s ‘technical delegates,’ Romanian Rudel Obreja, himself one of the vicepresidents of AIBA, independently called a press conference and alleged that Olympic match officials were deliberately being changed. He also said that he had been asked by a top official what referee he would like for a bout involving a Romanian fighter.

AIBA have now suspended Obreja – “for holding an unofficial press conference” – and have started an investigation into his allegations. But Terry Smith insisted last night that they are confident that none of the 250 Olympic bouts to date have been rigged. American Dr Tom Virgets, who heads up the AIBA disciplinary commission who is now investigating these allegations, was asked what he could do to allay the fears of boxers like Egan that their Olympic finals might not be fairly refereed and judged.

“I would say that, for 20 years, this is an organisation that has been under a cloud of suspicion. But I would say we have seen, under the new reforms, that this suspicion has been significantly reduced and that the individuals who are part of this, the technical delegates, have made all the precautions that they can take to ensure that there is equity in terms of the scoring.”

- Cliona Foley

And this one drew quite an audience. As the bell rang to begin the light-heavyweight Olympic semi-final yesterday afternoon, Paul Egan strolled in from the backyard of his home, passed nonchalantly through a kitchen of well-wishers, shaking a couple of hands and, steadfastly ignoring the absolute lack of space inside, made himself at home in his own sitting room, in front of his own television, to watch his own son fight for silver.

Maura Egan, in contrast, hadn't been seen in their thronged Clondalkin home for 10 minutes. The last sighting occurred at precisely the same time a portable television was being set up in the kitchen to cater for the large sitting-room overspill. Maura, who never watches Kenneth fight live, had listened to his quarter-final bout on radio in the kitchen earlier in the week.

That wasn't to be an option yesterday, but it was on Maura's terms.

When we tracked her down to the front lawn, as her son boxed for Olympic silver on the television inside, we did the gentlemanly thing and offered to, ahem, turn on the car radio. "No, no, no -- not today," she whispered. "It's too much."

If anything, it is the Egans' hospitality that is too much. It would be an understatement to say that the front room was jammed. A photographer beside the television who received a call of nature was told he would have to leave through the window. The door was entry only, and little wonder. It opens into a sunnier place.

In the past few days the Egan front room has provided a welcome escape from Ireland's gloomy summer.

Yesterday, it also promised escape from a traumatic 24 hours at the Olympics following on from the doping scandal in the show jumping and two brave defeats for Kenneth Egan's boxing teammates.

Again, it delivered. Last Irishman standing he may have been, but the 26-year-old may well be last man standing in his division by early tomorrow. He may have already rescued our Olympics, and with it our summer.

The big man's performance was so good yesterday, even his mother couldn't ignore it completely.

With the score at 9-3 in her son's favour, and deep into the final round, Maura Egan left the front garden, and the two-woman support team that rarely leaves her side, and ran for the kitchen.

All around her, family, friends, and even the odd journalist were singing and cheering, but she simply stared silently at the fuzzy screen. Those around her thought she fainted at the final bell, overcome by the enormity of it all. But the worst of it was over now. Now, for the first time, she could think about relaxing. For a few minutes at least.

Now what is it they say about opposites attracting?

"He (opponent Tony Jeffries) could bring his brother out with him and Ken would beat the two of them," her husband Paul had told us before the fight. He understandably hadn't changed his tune afterwards. "After the first round I knew he was okay," he maintained, even though the score was tied at 1-1.

"He is too good a fighter for this guy. I knew he'd do the business. Now for the Chinaman."

Egan will fight Zhang Xiaoping for gold in the Worker's Gymnasium tomorrow at 8.50am Irish time. His father -- who watches, live, as many of his son's fights as Maura misses -- will not be there having only arrived home from Beijing yesterday morning.

"There wasn't an issue with a visa," Paul, a chef at the Green Isle Hotel, said. "There was a visa boxed off for me and I could've stayed out there with him but his brothers are there, and Maura needed me home to deal with you lot."

He wasn't wrong. Photographers were already staking out their place on the sitting room floor behind him for tomorrow's bout -- and using superglue to ensure they remain attached to it, no matter who comes in later.

Austin Carruth escaped much of the madness at home when son Michael won gold in 1992 -- by being in the corner in Barcelona -- but took a trip to Clondalkin to experience it yesterday.

"On days like this you have to think of all the lads in the boxing clubs up and down the country," he said.

"The lads who ensure that there's a conveyor belt of talent coming through. They're the unsung heroes who have done so much for Irish boxing at the Olympics."

Those are the guys who have helped Ken Egan achieve his dream.

Aged eight, he wrote in his copybook that his dream was to compete in the Olympics. Around the same time he started boxing with the Neilstown club.

And it is these guys that sports minister Martin Cullen and the likes of Fine Gael sports spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell might think of when congratulating Ken Egan, Paddy Barnes and Darren Sutherland on their efforts yesterday.

But, for now, we will be thinking of only one man.

"He's my Captain Fantastic," the mother of the boxing team captain said.

But we all want a piece of him. To become the fifth Irish boxer to make it to an Olympic final is an incredible achievement. Putting a smile back on our faces is something else entirely.

HEARTBROKEN Paddy Barnes bagged an Olympic medal yesterday after a die-hard performance which failed to see him score a single point, only to declare: "They can keep their bronze medal".

Family and friends of the fighter called the result "a disgrace" after China's Zou Shiming notched up 15 points on the judges' scorecards over four intensely-contested two-minute rounds.

Barnes (21) put in a tireless performance, earning him praise from boxing pundits, but the light flyweight could not hide his own disgust after the final bell. He even told the Olympic committee to "keep their bronze medal".

Paddy's brother Michael (18) watched the fight surrounded by family at the Glen Park Inn near west Belfast's Crumlin road.

He said: "The result is a disgrace, there were four Chinese judges and they gave everything to their fighter and nothing to Paddy. I am pure raging.

"His effort was second to none and he scored points which weren't awarded to him.

"He will overcome this and be back stronger. He's got the mentality to go on to better things.

"Words can't describe how proud of him I am, but the way the fight was scored was disgusting and hard to watch."

Footwork

Barnes was eight points down by the end of the second round despite pressing Shiming, but the Chinese fighter's slick footwork and counter-punching was too much.

His uncle, Conor Barnes (35) said: "He was fighting one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and he had a great chance.

"If he had got off to a better start . . . things may have been different.

"It is a real shame he didn't score. I thought there were at least four or five points which he should have got, but he is coming home with the bronze medal and he has done Ireland proud.

"He is still our hero and we want to get him home . . . there is a big party waiting for him."

Amazing

Paddy's girlfriend Mari Burns (21), returned home from Beijing fifteen minutes before the fight started. She said: "Being in Beijing was amazing. The support for Paddy was incredible.

"It was hard to see him so emotional after the fight. But everyone saw that he did not stop, he did not tire and he did not give up."

Paddy's cousin Michael Noble (18) said: "I am disappointed that he didn't score, but we are very pleased with the bronze.

"By the end of the fight, he was going for the knock-out because that's all he could hope for. He showed the guts he has.

"Paddy has competed in the biggest and the best sporting event in the world . . . Now it is all about London in 2012.

Declan Noble (16) said: "To get to the semi-final of the Olympics is a great achievement. I thought he would have got to the final, but the judges seemed slightly biased towards his opponent.

"It was hard to see him fight and watch no points go up on the board, but he will come back stronger from the experience."

And the Olympic boxer's grandmother Phyllis said: "He did well because he was fighting a champion boxer.

"I know nothing about boxing, but I thought he should have had a few points. He worked very hard these last years to get where he is.

"He'll be on the phone later today and I'll tell him how proud I am of him."

Heartbroken Paddy Barnes bagged an Olympic medal yesterday after a die-hard performance which failed to see him score a single point, only to declare: "They can keep their bronze medal".

Family and friends of the fighter called the result "a disgrace" after China's Zou Shiming notched up 15 points on the judges' scorecards over four intensely-contested two-minute rounds.

Barnes (21) put in a tireless performance, earning him praise from boxing pundits, but the light flyweight could not hide his own disgust after the final bell. He even told the Olympic committee to "keep their bronze medal".

Paddy's brother Michael (18) watched the fight surrounded by family at the Glen Park Inn near west Belfast's Crumlin road.

He said: "The result is a disgrace, there were four Chinese judges and they gave everything to their fighter and nothing to Paddy. I am pure raging.

"His effort was second to none and he scored points which weren't awarded to him.

"He will overcome this and be back stronger. He's got the mentality to go on to better things.

"Words can't describe how proud of him I am, but the way the fight was scored was disgusting and hard to watch."

Barnes was eight points down by the end of the second round despite pressing Shiming, but the Chinese fighter's slick footwork and counter-punching was too much.

His uncle, Conor Barnes (35) said: "He was fighting one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and he had a great chance.

"If he had got off to a better start . . . things may have been different.

"It is a real shame he didn't score. I thought there were at least four or five points which he should have got, but he is coming home with the bronze medal and he has done Ireland proud.

"He is still our hero and we want to get him home . . . there is a big party waiting for him."

Paddy's girlfriend Mari Burns (21), returned home from Beijing fifteen minutes before the fight started. She said: "Being in Beijing was amazing. The support for Paddy was incredible.

"It was hard to see him so emotional after the fight. But everyone saw that he did not stop, he did not tire and he did not give up."

Paddy's cousin Michael Noble (18) said: "I am disappointed that he didn't score, but we are very pleased with the bronze.

"By the end of the fight, he was going for the knock-out because that's all he could hope for. He showed the guts he has.

"Paddy has competed in the biggest and the best sporting event in the world . . . Now it is all about London in 2012.

Declan Noble (16) said: "To get to the semi-final of the Olympics is a great achievement. I thought he would have got to the final, but the judges seemed slightly biased towards his opponent.

"It was hard to see him fight and watch no points go up on the board, but he will come back stronger from the experience."

And the Olympic boxer's grandmother Phyllis said: "He did well because he was fighting a champion boxer.

"I know nothing about boxing, but I thought he should have had a few points. He worked very hard these last years to get where he is.

"He'll be on the phone later today and I'll tell him how proud I am of him."

Regardless of the outcome, Darren Sutherland remained a champ and that was all that mattered to his proud family.

More than 5,000 miles away from the Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing, in spirit, the Dublin man's family could not have been closer, prouder or more supportive of his performance.

A frenzy of early morning activity singled out the Sutherland abode in their otherwise silent housing estate in Navan, Co Meath, as neighbours, relatives and friends began arriving shortly before the 8am bout, two little boys in Ireland football strips each carefully clutching an armful of plastic wrestling figurines -- the closest thing to boxers they could muster up from their toy-boxes to mark this exciting event.

Three flags had pride of place on the front lawn -- the green and gold of the Royal county, the tricolour and the Dublin blue, with tricoloured bunting strung from an upstairs window just for good measure.

Understandably, the family insisted on privacy to watch the fight away from the prying eyes of the media circus which had materialised at their front gate before they'd even had their breakfast and, accordingly, the blind of the front window was discreetly lowered.

Inside, there were about 30 people, many of whom had slept over in anticipation of the early start.

Minutes before the bout began, however, Tony Sutherland, Darren's father, in a team Ireland Olympic polo-shirt, popped his head out the front door to make the solemn promise that the family would be out to give their reaction to the result "whether we're crying or not", and then, as his daughter Nicole (19) warned that it was just "two minutes", he was back inside again, door firmly closed behind him.

Silence descended as the pundits took to the airwaves before the fight, commenting that there was one thing about the fighting Irish -- we never give in.

Precedent

"If Sutherland wins this bout, he'll be setting a good precedent for the other two boxers," says Jimmy Magee, and then they're off -- the Irish middleweight swinging his arms as he makes a valiant crouching-style attack on his long-time British rival, James DeGale.

At the end of round one, it's one all. Both boxers are "as cagey as they come", says Magee but then, with quick jabs, DeGale finds a way to make the points creep up.

"He's much better than this, Darren Sutherland, much better," mutters Magee dispiritedly, reminding viewers that 26-year-old Sutherland had beaten DeGale to become EU champion, as round three finishes with DeGale up, eight points to two. But by then, it was an impossible task.

As the bout finished, the Dubliner losing 10-3 to DeGale, the mood of depression was palpable -- but then Tony Sutherland was out, holding his hands up in resignation, somehow managing to look simultaneously crushed and proud.

His son had fought the fight he planned to fight, but DeGale had "done his homework", he said.

"He said he was going to go in there and give it his best, and he gave it his all. The fight DeGale fought today was a completely different fight than in the past.

"But that's how boxing goes. Sometimes you can get it right on the night, and sometimes it doesn't go right.

"One loss is not the end of the world," added Tony.

It had taken Darren Sutherland longer than most to find his metier in boxing, Tony said, the age of 15 qualifying as a "late starter" in this highly competitive field.

He had tried everything it seemed -- his parents had bought him football boots but he didn't like Gaelic; an expensive tennis racquet but he wasn't a fan. He even tried singing and rapping -- but, eventually, when he turned to boxing, his father made him buy his first gloves himself.

"I was sick of buying things he didn't use and that just ended up in the attic," said Tony.

Asked what was the next step for his son, he replied "professional".

He has attended every single one of his son's fights -- but he does not know how he will feel watching once Darren has to take off the headgear when he turns pro, he confessed.

"We're all very proud of him -- can't wait to see him," said relative, Fiona Kennedy as she departed for work.

Eyes moist from highly charged emotion, Darren's mother, Linda, emerged to give a defiant thumbs up, admitting that she had not been able to watch the fight.

"She listens to us and when we go 'Yay' she knows things are okay," revealed daughters Nicole (19) and Shaneika (17).

"We're proud of him for getting a bronze medal -- even getting to the Olympics was his goal. He got there, he done his best, and we love him to bits," Tony said, as the family nodded in agreement.

The smell of frying rashers and hot buttered toast wafted in the air as Darren Sutherland managed to make contact with his family. He'd sounded upbeat and not a bit tired, they said.

Now they're looking forward to his return on Tuesday and, in the meantime, are planning an epic homecoming party to do an Olympian proud.

- Nicola Anderson

But that position was given to Limerick's Jim Walsh, whose day-to-day involvement with the boxers has been negligible.

Billy Walsh said that the perception of this being just another Irish Olympic row "hurt" him at a time when the boxing team was enjoying almost unprecedented success in the ring.

"It hurts me, because there's money being put into the sport now, not to have a mess like this" he said. "It's public money, there should not be a mess. He should be here with us, leading us.

"We have a team-manager, a lovely man. It's nothing to do with him. But he isn't a performance manager. He's here as a manager, he's a nice lad. We could get out with him and go for a pint and he's a great lad. We've no qualms with him.

"It's just the system that allowed this to happen."

Walsh said that he was loathe to be seen "bashing anybody" but added of the controversy "a blind man could see it". He elaborated: "You know it's politics and sport. Thankfully, Gary has protected us from that for five years. I wouldn't still be in this job if I had to put up with what he has put up with.

"But he has protected us from all that and allowed us to get on with our job. The boxers are going mad over him not being here, but he hasn't made it an issue.

"He's in contact with them daily. Some of them have been out to see him. After each fight, they all see him out the back of the stadium and give him a hug."

Keegan (pictured) retires from the post after these Olympics to take up a new position with the Irish Institute of Sport. And despite his criticisms of the treatment meted out to his director, Walsh did not rule out an interest in replacing Keegan at the head of the programme.

"We'll see, one day at a time" he said. "If you're going to continue with the same system, who better? I was part of putting it together. Bring somebody else in and you don't know what's going to happen. Can you work with them? We've a good set-up at the moment, a nice, tight squad. We all support each other and work for each other."

The Irish senior champion from the Holy Family club in Belfast fought bravely in front of thousands of Zous supporters at the Workers Indoor Arena.

Light-flyweight Barnes looked promising but in the end the Chinese gold medal favourite claimed a 15-0 win over the north Belfast fighter.

The scoring system was reduced to farce as the judges decided that Barnes did not land a single scoring shot, despite connecting with Zou on a number of occasions.

Although Barnes was unlucky not to register a point the Chinese World Champion was clearly the better fighter.

Zou boxed superbly on the backfoot throughout to lead (2-0, 8-0,11-0) at the end of the first three rounds. He then added another four points to his tally in the fourth.

After the match Barnes was full of rage. He slammed the Olympic judges for the scoring and branded them 'a disgrace'.

"The judges should hang their heads in shame," a furious Barnes explained.

"There is no doubt I lost the fight - by a mile.

"He beat me fair and square but to not to score a point? I hit him with a lot of shots.

"I get drug-tested here at the Olympics - well after this I think that the judges should be drug tested."

Irish coach Billy Walsh said: "There is no doubt about the decision. There is no doubt about the winner. The guy [Zou] has been unbeatable. Paddy gave everything he had. It was a big ask to come here against a world champion in his own backyard.

"We're extremely pleased with Paddy's performance. He got a medal at the Olympics at the age of 21 and has a great future ahead of him."

Barnes' bronze medal is the second for Ireland's boxers after Darren Sutherland was beaten in his middleweight semi-final by Great Britain's James Degale earlier today.

Ireland's Ken Egan faces Tony Jeffries in the light heavyweight semi-finals later today.

Keegan swallowed hard and waited to hear a few coalescing voices. None came. There was no appetite for bloodshed, just a doubt that ached like rheumatism. One delegate suggested parking things until the Olympic qualification tournaments had completed. It wasn't so much a vote of confidence as a suspended execution.

The first week back, he had sent the whole of the High Performance staff away on holiday. Directly opposite Keegan's desk, he kept a white board on which the entire year's schedule was written. One morning, sitting above the silent gym, he scrubbed the board clean.

The future was a blank page.

Chicago decanted such spleen they might easily have buckled. Budgets and work-practices came under fire. For all the investment, only Paddy Barnes had booked a ticket to Beijing. They were depicted as dilettantes, spinning the illusion of purpose.

Ireland's Sports Council's funding of the programme had grown incrementally since 2003. Now some were asking questions, others just turning their backs.

"My biggest fear was not for my job," remembers Keegan now.

"My biggest fear was for the system and the programme. Because that's what supports the boxers. And I was afraid that that might be pulled down.

"Everything was being questioned but, hand on heart, I never felt I was under pressure. Because we always believed that we were in this battle alone. The team was a very tight unit. We were looking at our mistakes and our frailties. And, as long as we were doing that, we knew we were looking at the solutions too."

The rain pours down on Beijing from a heavy, pewter sky. The streets are swollen rivers. Today, three Irish boxers will go to the east of this city and fight for places in Olympic finals. Already, the three are medallists.

All week, they've been killing time maybe 400 yards from here, behind the high walls of the Olympic village. Cocooned from the din of home where, it seems, the discredited, old five-ringed flame has suddenly found fresh lustre.

Next week, there will be homecomings and -- beyond -- almost certainly an appearance on the season-opening The Late Late Show. Keegan won't be at either. He is going home alone and, on arrival, he intends flying straight back out to America with his children.

Not to Chicago, mind.

Down in the village, Billy Walsh and Zaur Antia gather up the threads of a beautiful story now. Walsh, Antia and Keegan are all of the same vintage and, maybe by extension, mindset. They've carried this thing together.

When Keegan set up the programme in '03, he had two fundamental priorities. One, it had to be Irish-led. Two, it had to reference the highest of European standards. That's where Billy and Zaur came in.

Walsh was a seven-time Irish boxing champion with a coach's eye and a fighter's empathy. Antia came from Georgia, where he won the national title six times. Both were welterweights.

This week, they talked of how, just recently, they realised their paths must have crossed at a tournament in Sweden in '96, Antia as Georgian coach, Walsh as an old fighter trying to make the Games in Atlanta.

There is a subtle chemistry between them. A tightness articulated through little glances and gestures. When Antia arrived in Ireland five years ago, he had no English. Not a single word. But he made himself understood with his hands.

Now they are bonded by the sharing of a profound journey.

Walsh tells a story to frame the business pending. To find a context for this Olympic achievement, it is best perhaps to reference where it started. For the first year of the Programme, Keegan pestered the French federation to allow his team travel over to a training camp.

Habitually, his emails were met with Gallic shrugs. 'Sorry, mon ami, no interest'. Eventually, against their better instincts, the French relented. This Irishman was stubborn.

So Keegan and Walsh and Antia brought an Irish team to the Institute of Sport and Physical Education in Paris and set their minds to leaving behind a good impression. They were first in the gym every morning. They sparred with striking discipline and zeal. They went to their beds early.

Eventually, the French Director of High Performance decided to come clean. His ambivalence had been rooted in Irish boxing's relationship with drink. He had not wanted his academy infected.

Now the French invited the Irish to everything.

Walsh would have known that old, wayward culture. He fought for Ireland at the '88 Games in Seoul and he has a colourful recall of the pre-Olympic training camp. Six had qualified and they were dispatched off Castlecove on the Ring of Kerry to effectively manage their own preparation for Korea.

"Beautiful place," recalls Billy, a sparkle in his eyes. "We used run on Derrynane beach in the morning, at the back of Daniel O'Connell's house.

"That was the only thing I felt proud about, going by that house every morning. But we were left to prepare on our own, spar with each other. Sure we were mates, were never going to kill each other. You know what I mean, you're not going to push."

Billy is adamant that Keegan and the High Performance programme have "changed the culture of Irish boxing".

You won't, of course, hear or read that in any official Olympic records of Beijing '08. Because, for the OCI, Keegan does not exist. Actually, for many in the IABA too, he seems to be a rumour.

No matter, Ireland has three boxers in the last four of the Olympic Games.

Some time ago, they circulated a questionnaire in the gym and, almost to a man, the boxers declared a desire to be "famous". Their prayer is answered.

"It's nice for them," says Billy. "The training they do, the commitment they put in. Giving up their lives, their education. Putting everything on hold to try and be an Olympian and do well out of it."

Billy followed pretty much the same flame.

But he lost his only fight in Seoul and, coming from Wexford, he learnt to live with the curse of Kilkenny hurlers. He played in two Leinster minor hurling finals and remembers the '81 game like it was yesterday's burglary.

"Five points up with six minutes to go, beaten by a point," he says. "Walsh was playing wing-back. "Threw my hurley down that day and said 'I'm going to go to the Olympic Games, f**k this!'"

So he knows that sport can bring you to bad places. But he knows, too, that those places can define men.

Of Chicago, he says simply: "If you don't take a risk, you don't achieve and we've been taking risks for the last five years. We failed on a number of occasions, we went down in the gutter. And that's probably what's made us what we are now.

"We've learnt from it. We're continuously learning."

Maybe above all the things they learnt was not to over-coach a boxer. To remember that empowerment came from responsibility, not structure. After Chicago, they took the boxers to Donegal and ran them across the Barnesmore Gap. Then they invited them to talk. And, in a sense, the talking cleared the air like thunder.

So Darren Sutherland, Paddy Barnes and Kenny Egan go climb a rainbow now. Darren and Kenny face British opponents.

On Wednesday night last, Walsh bumped into the British manager, Terry Edwards. "Settle for one each maybe Billy?" grinned Edwards.

"Nah," said Walsh. "Think we'll take our chances."

Darren Sutherland against James Degale is a fight just made for speechifying. Don King has bad little dreams about this kind of deal. You see, when he talks, Darren's so musical he belongs in Tin Pan Alley.

And Degale? Well, we'll get back to Jitterbug Jim.

Yesterday, an Olympic medal secured, Sutherland led us through a dance of his colourful story. Stop us if you've heard it. A Caribbean dad, a Finglas mother. A kid on the set of a movie that never made it ('The Sparrow's Trap'). That kid kicking the door of a caravan on set, to talk to the man who'd make him king (Brendan Ingle).

Three years of emptiness following in a Sheffield gym. Kid becoming master of all tasks menial. Due to turn pro at 20, he panics and comes home. Goes back to school at 21 (St. Peter's, Dunboyne) and in full school uniform (green blazer, tie). Buys a little car to avoid the humiliation of the bus stop.

Kids passes Leaving Cert and is named 'Student of the Year'. Rediscovers his love for boxing. Kid represents Ireland, but fractures his lower eye socket in a fight in Russia. Kid told his career is over.

Still with us?

Degale is standing in the mixed-zone now, talking with an effeminate twang, fidgeting like a kid with attention deficit. "It's going to be lovely," he grins from a forest of journalists. Degale and Sutherland have got history.

They've fought five times and, while Sutherland's won four, the Englishman recalls each defeat as a violation of the natural order. The pistons in his brain begin kicking.

"As you know, it's 4-1 to him," he says, a ripple of distaste on his lips.

"But the skills that I've got, I should beat him every day. Right?"

The British head coach swallows hard.

Degale is a fire in a paint factory now. He's talking about losing to Sutherland the way you might talk about a thief to the law. "It's 4-1, but two of those have been in Ireland," says James, as if we're barely house-trained.

"I think it was 10-9 in a Four Nations semi-final and 23-20 in the European Union semi-final. In Dublin!"

Possession

Head coach leans in and wonders would we mind awfully if he took possession of James for "five minutes", then all but wrestles Degale around the corner. James returns in 30 seconds, grinning vacantly. He opens his mouth and a press statement tumbles to the floor.

"Like I said, he's a tough opponent ... "

Anyway, back to Sutherland. He's played us all for fools here. He's just fought in a smart, analytical style that we imagined to be beyond him. Just beaten his "nemesis", Alfonzo Blanco Parra of Venezuela 11-1.

Parra beat him when winning silver at the World Championships. Just picked Sutherland off, like a picador with a bull. We braced ourselves for déjà vu and Sutherland went out and re-invented himself.

Fighting close with a high defence, he obliterated Parra. "Look, I gave you the fireworks the other night," he says, all but clucking his tongue now. "But I gave away 14 points too. Didn't want to do that in this one.

"So the tactics were perfect. Tie in the fella, close him down. And he played straight into my hands. Soon as the bell went, he came straight at me. It was perfect. Because I'm pretty strong in the zone.

"If anyone steps in and trades with me, there's probably only going to be one winner."

Historians search frantically for the last time Darren Sutherland fought a fight that didn't become a war. ONE SCORE. Yesterday, he conceded one score. It's like Jeremy Paxman not picking an argument.

Billy Walsh sweeps down on us in admonishment.

"Hey, Darren can box too," chides Billy. "Last time he fought Degale, he boxed him. And Degale was expecting a fight, but Darren boxed him. He's well capable of doing both."

The evangelist in Sutherland blinds us to the child within. He is emotional now, though he intends "keeping that behind closed doors."

And he trawls through all the bad stuff. The empty years in Ingle's care, trying to mimmick the gym star, Prince Naseem.

"I got totally disillusioned with boxing," he remembers. "I had no life. So I started to question what I was doing because all my eggs were in one basket."

The quiet humiliation of the classroom. "I was in with secondary school children, some who hadn't even done transition year. So they were only fifteen. And I had to wear the uniform. I've only one picture that my Mom took and I wouldn't let her take it anywhere."

The eye with two plates now in place to support it. "After being in hospital and not thinking that I would see properly again, this is child's play."

He watched Paddy Barnes and Kenny Egan come back to the village on Tuesday night and tried to imagine a homecoming in their shadow. The thought of it sent a shudder through him.

You see, Sutherland loves the light of these days. He was born to hold peoples' attention. "I think everything happens for a reason," he says now. "Going back to school, the eye injury. Everything.

"They've all made me the man I am today."

He just prayed for an Olympic draw with gentle favours, believing that if he could keep away from the Cuban, Russian and Kazak, Sutherland reasoned that he'd not be far from a medal bout.

Perfect

"And, behold, I got the Venezuelan," he beams like Jimmy Swaggart with a basket. "And he was the perfect guy. My supposed nemesis, but I didn't fear him.

"Because it was redemption. The World Championship was a low-point for me and, probably, for Irish boxing at the time. We underperformed and everyone was writing us off, writing off the High Performance.

"But we're back punching above our weight again."

Darren says Degale will be an "interesting fight" and sees "nothing personal" in it. The Brits and the Irish now have three semi-finalists each.

And Jitterbug Jim?

"This time I'm going to use my brain," he announces. "I'm boxing excellent."

"Any gold medals for Britain?" enquires one of her majesty's journos.

"Two I'd say," says Degale.

"And you're going to be one of them?"

"Probably, yes."

Lawdee, lawdee. Where's Mister big hair when you need him?

It bore the emblem of the Irish Sports Council, a body that Billy Walsh made a point of lauding after Kenny Egan's medal-winning victory against Brazilian Washington Silva. Walsh pointed out that, at a time when Egan had been falling just single footsteps short of the funding criteria, the council did not turn its back on him.

And, of course, now Kenny Egan is roped down 'Late Late' currency.

Boxing's High Performance programme has been the one, coherent success story of these Games for Ireland. Directed by Keegan, it has decanted three medals, their colours yet to be determined.

Yet on Tuesday night, Keegan again watched the boxing from high up in the bleachers, the experience cutting him to the bone.

You see, the first day he opened the gym to get the High Performance moving, it was Kenny Egan who stood beside him, lifting crates, sweeping floors, putting shape on the brazen curve of their dreams. And now, with Egan on the mountain-top, Keegan could not get near him.

It was significant that the two coaches, Walsh and Zaur Antia, went to find Keegan in the Workers' Gymnasium on Tuesday night before returning to the Olympic village. Significant too, that Egan branded Keegan's exclusion from the official Irish boxing party "a disgrace" on the night of his greatest victory.

Last night, Darren Sutherland was equally pointed, remarking: "You have to really say 'Hats off to the High Performance Unit.' Five qualifiers, five into the second round, three medallists.

"Now we're just going to see what colour we can get."

This story is, fundamentally, about administrative obstinacy.

The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) will claim that Keegan's exclusion is a matter for the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA). With five boxers qualified for Beijing, the IABA were entitled to nominate two coaches and a manager for accreditation.

Walsh and Antia, having practically lived with the boxers for

five years now, could hardly be overlooked as coaches. Keegan, having been full-time director of the High Performance Programme, would have seemed a logical choice as manager.

Yet the IABA chose to overlook him. It may or may not be significant that, after the Olympics, Keegan takes up a post with the Irish Institute of Sport. Then again, he was overlooked for Athens too, though the programme then was in its infancy.

The Irish boxing manager in Beijing is Jim Walsh. A good man with a decent administrative background in the sport, Walsh -- essentially -- has no day-to-day involvement with the boxers in China. In fact, some noted that he attended few of the 18 sparring sessions during their pre-Olympic camp in Vladivostok.

The boxers have no particular gripe with Walsh, yet neither do they have a relationship. His role here is too ill-defined to matter.

It is thought that the Sports Council tried to intervene on this issue by investigating the possibility of sourcing an added accreditation for the boxing party. But given the ISC's relationship with the OCI, it cannot have been a confident request.

So the absurdity of an un-accredited Keegan being kept at arm's length from a story he has, effectively, directed is the elephant in the room here.

On Tuesday, the sense of isolation all came crashing in on him.

"I've had to try to hold back the tears all week," he reflected, voice breaking, after Egan's win.

"Because you sacrifice family, everything.

"The dream is to get to the Olympic Games, and to be locked out of the team when we get here, you know it's been really hard. So just to keep your head together and stay focused for the team, keep supporting the team and not make this about me ...

"That's what I really wanted to do. Not make it about me. Not make it personal. But, just as a professional, the work that I've put into the team, I really wanted to lead the team in the Olympic Games. And not to be at their side is really wrong.

"It's really wrong and it's been hard to deal with."

His consolation comes in the multiple daily calls from Billy and Zaur, the updates from Scott the physio, Gerry the psychologist and -- most especially -- the constant trickle of boxers to his apartment.

Keegan takes pride in how all the little support beams the High Performance staff erected together now pretty much support Ireland's only Olympic story.

"What's been really encouraging for me is how my team have responded," he observed.

"How my staff have responded and how they've kept me in the loop. They've been phenomenal. I really do appreciate and respect that.

"Because it's been hard, sitting up in the audience shouting when you know your boxer can't hear you. It's been very, very difficult.

"But I don't care. I really don't care now.

"The victories are there. You know, I've answered my critics. The programme has answered all its critics."

Keegan hopes that the good work of the past five years is not wasted now as the drum roll begins for a bawdy homecoming. He hopes, especially, that old sins aren't repeated.

"We've got to embrace this success," he said. "We really have.

"Irish boxing could go on to do really special things. But it's got to believe in its own people. It can't keep kicking its own people in the arse all the time.

"It's just not on. That has to stop.

"We can produce world-class people in Ireland. Whether it's in boxing, athletics or rowing. We can do it. But we've got to start believing in our own people."

On an extraordinary week in China, the crime would be not to listen.

- Vincent Hogan in Beijing.

Two Olympic medals won for Ireland by boxers from different ends of our complex isle. One, pale and lean as a bog hare, the other swarthy, with smiling, renegade eyes. A Belfast boy and a Walkinstown man. Brothers.

Ken Egan sat in the apartment yesterday, watching Paddy Barnes win Ireland's first medal in 16 years. He'd scolded him earlier for being on his feet too much.

"Paddy what's the story with you walking around?" asked Egan. "Would you not relax?"

And the little boxing waif from the Cliftonville Road, the kid who lost his first 15 fights and got a name for being tied to his mother's apron strings, just emulsified Egan with a stare, announcing: "Why? I'm just going to go in and kill this motherf***er!"

Egan is guffawing at the cheek of it. "That's Paddy all over" he says. "He's just a madman."

Somewhere out there, in a quiet alcove of the great, sandstone bowl that is the Workers' Gymnasium, Gary Keegan weeps liberating tears. Soon, Billy Walsh and Zaur Antia will slip out through the competitors' entrance and go find him. Little detonations of 'Ole, Ole, Ole' carry from the bar as Keegan waits.

But, back inside, Egan reaches out towards the raw nerve of this story. He looks across at Walsh, with his pug's nose and gentle, Wexford eyes. He looks at Zaur's melancholy Georgian features. Something is tugging at big Egan on the greatest night of his life.

He clears his throat.

"I've been part of Irish boxing teams for the last nine years," he says. "I'm an oul fella at this stage. But this is the best team I've been on. It's a young team and, hopefully, all the younger lads can stay on and get to London in four years' time.

"But you see Billy there, he's been travelling all round the world with Zaur, with a family at home. The time he puts into this sport is unbelievable. I'm proud of him. That's from the heart.

"Him and Zaur, all the time away from their kids and family. It must be hard for them. I've no kids. And Gary Keegan, he's outside in the crowd. He should be in with us. But that's for another day. I think it's a disgrace."

And there he stops, roping back in his anger, knowing that this is maybe not a night to impregnate with discord. In time, Keegan's story will be aired. Director of the programme that has, essentially, rescued Ireland's Olympics. Ineligible for a badge.

No matter, Ireland has two medals, the colours yet to be confirmed. On Friday, Barnes will fight China's homeboy Zou Shiming for a place in the lightfly final, while Egan tackles England's Tony Jeffries at lightheavy. Exactly half of Ireland's complete Olympic medal haul (22) has now been delivered by boxing, but none at these weights before.

Now minds are alive to all kinds of giddy possibility.

Barnes' 11-5 defeat of the Warsaw baker, Lukasz Maszczyk, was all about one man's fury overwhelming another's technique.

Maszczyk was standing on the far side of the ring when Paddy first stepped through the ropes in an Irish singlet. Barnes' boxing was raw and unrefined that night in Galway. He climbed out of the ring, ears ringing and heavily defeated.

That was never likely to be repeated here. Somewhere in the dark corners of Barnes' personality resides a hard, uncompromising streak.

Walsh told him to be careful in the first round, not to fall behind. The Pole had a reputation for 'running like bedamned' when he got ahead.

So, Barnes came back to his corner with the scored tied at 2-2. "Perfect," said Walsh. Barnes seemed to be moving through the gears without any conscious effort.

The whole thing swung in the second, a brutal flurry of punches from the Irishman that drew four scores as quick as drumbeats. Suddenly, Maszczyk seemed to be caught in a private loop of doubt. Visibly, his movement stiffened.

"Once I catch them, they don't want to know," Barnes would tell us impassively later. "He's a good boxer, but I wasn't going to box his fight. I closed him down as I was told, put my right hand in his face. I just felt I was too strong and too fast for him."

He won the last two rounds without conceding a score, Maszczyk actually turning away from the whirring punches as a bawdy Irish following began counting down the last seconds.

The Pole had thought he was coming to pick the pockets of a green Irishman. He ended up being mugged.

Back in the apartment, Egan watched with a quickening pulse. "Just thought to myself, 'I'd better not get beaten or I'll have the wee man giving me stick'," he would grin later. And Egan has a beautiful grin.

He reckons there's a reason. In three Olympic fights now, Kenny has conceded just four scores. He's proving harder to hit than Casper. "That's why I have the looks I have, you know what I mean?" he says, winking in Walsh's direction. "Ah, I had to get that in."

Egan looked like he could have won his fight against Washington Silva in a necktie. He moved sublimely, scoring at will with a ramrod left. Egan was as close as a fighter can get to perfection, winning 8-0. Not one punch taken. Not one skipped heartbeat.

Before coming here, he had a bet on himself at 6/1 to win a medal. So Egan's just won €600 and a place in history. He doesn't need to phone to know that, right at this moment, his Ma is crying back home in Walkinstown.

Egan and his Ma are soul-mates. She knows the height of the mountain he's just climbed.

You see, Egan is big and breezy and amiable with us, but he's had his heartbreak too. He's been Irish boxing captain for five years now and believed he was good enough to go to Athens.

"When I didn't get there, I went home and cried on my pillow for a night or two," he tells us now.

"But that's sport for you. It's a hard game we're in, especially at this level. This is the highest you can get."

Old faces dip in and out of this story. Barnes talks of Hughie Russell and the gym back home in Belfast. Before he flew to the pre-Olympic camp in Russia, he trained with Russell up at the Holy Family club. Russell, of course, won a bronze at the Moscow Games in 1980.

"It was brilliant to be training with an Olympic medalist," says Barnes. "Now him and me are on the same level."

Egan casts a thought to Michael Carruth and that magical morning in Barcelona. He remembers watching the RTE coverage from Carruth's home on St Peter's Road and glimpsing his old coach Noel Humpston somewhere in the throng. Humpston was Austin Carruth's brother-in-law.

He was the first man to teach Egan how to box, but Humpston sadly passed away in 2000.

"I think I was still in nappies in my sitting room watching Carruth on the TV," remembers Egan. "When he won that gold medal, I said 'This is it now.' I went down to the local club in Neilstown. That's where I met Noel.

Dreamland

"And it started off from there. Now I'm in Carruth's position. This is dreamland."

There are no mysteries left for them in these Games now. They know what's coming. Barnes lost to Zou at the World Championship, but Walsh sees two very different mindsets brewing for Friday's semi-final.

"Paddy is amazing for his age," he says. "Nothing seems to bother him. Pressure doesn't seem to get to him. Before he went out tonight, we were laughing and joking in the changing-room.

"Zaur was telling stories from the old Soviet bloc. It was hilarious.

"So Paddy's a bit different to everybody else. I've seen the Chinese lad and I'm not sure how well he's handling the pressure of fighting in front of his own crowd. So this is the best place to be.

"Meet them in their own backyard. Paddy will fight him in a telephone box if he wants!"

Egan beat Jeffries en route to a gold at the European Union Championships two months ago. The fight was stopped with a cut eye for the Englishman, Kenny already six points to the good.

"He'll be the one with doubts in his head," says the Dubliner. "It'll be just a case of head down, arse up and go for it."

Short of carrying a derringer in his pocket, Silva never looked to have a prayer yesterday and Jeffries will need to be good to do any better.

Quite a night in the bosom of China, then. Quite a story just beginning to unfold.

- Vincent Hogan

Boxers Ken Egan and Paddy Barnes are guaranteed medals after progressing to the semi-finals of their respective divisions.

Egan will fight Britain's Tony Jeffries next after beating Washington Silva 8-0 in the light-heavyweight quarter-final.

Barnes is through to the light flyweight semi-finals after beating Lucas Maszczyk of Poland 11-5.

Elsewhere, Paul Hession has bowed out of the Games after finishing fifth in men's 200m semi-finals.

Barnes produced a superb performance to beat Poland’s Lukasz Maszczyk 10-5.

The victory means that Barnes is assured of at least a bronze.

Ironically Maszczyk defeated Barnes in the Belfast man's first international bout, but it was different today with an excellent second round from the Ulsteramn proving decisive.

Barnes was the toast of the Ireland team because he has guaranteed the Irish their first medal of the Games.

The last Northern Ireland boxer to win a medal in the Olympics was Wayne McCullough who collected a sliver in 1992.

Barnes becomes the second Northern Ireland competitor to win a medal in Beijing following cyclist Wendy Houvenaghel, who won a silver at the weekend.

Elsewhere Paul Goodison landed yet another gold for Great Britain in what has been an amazing Olympics for those flying the union flag.

Goodison made up for the disappointment of just missing out on an Olympic medal four years ago as he claimed gold in the Laser class at the Olympic sailing regatta.

The 30-year-old finished fourth in Athens but ensured that he would not suffer similar heartbreak in China with a solid performance in the nine preliminary races that guaranteed him at least a spot on the podium heading into the medal race.

It was Britain’s 13th gold medal with more expected to come. Goodison was delighted to put his Athens misery behind him.

"It just feels fantastic to come in with a medal this time and the fact that it's gold is just amazing," he said.

"I didn't start great in the first race but bounced straight back and then from there I was always within reaching distance and sailed a superb day yesterday to give myself the cushion I needed for today."

Bangor sailor Stephen Milne and his Irish team-mate Peter O'Leary have dropped to 14th place in the Star class after seven races, lying on 60 points.

The duo were 12th in race five on Monday, 13th in race six and seventh in race seven but can discard their 13th position, their worst so far.

Meanwhile cyclist Bradley Wiggins had to settle for just two Olympic golds from the Beijing Games after he and Madison partner Mark Cavendish failed to get a medal.

Wiggins, who had already won the team and individual pursuits, and four-time Tour de France winner Cavendish finished eighth with the gold going to Argentina.

Light-heavy Egan fights Brazilian Washington Silva for an Olympic medal today (2.16pm Irish time). It is a contest that, technically, he is well equipped to win. But Olympic quarter-finals have a habit of leaving awkward questions sit on a fighter’s brain, even in the most self-contained campaigners.

Egan is an eight-times Irish champion, a multiple EU title winner and European bronze medalist, yet this is – essentially – the fight his whole career has been building to.

He is captain of this Irish team and, for a man with a past sometimes cursed by mental brittleness, he has carried that responsibility well. Yesterday, he stuck to his routine of rest and laughter on the eve of battle.

While Belfast light-fly Paddy Barnes, did some ‘fat-burning’ on a treadmill and engaged in pad-work, Egan’s weight allowed him a work-free day, the Dubliner intent on preserving every last ounce of energy for the battle with Washington. He has beaten the veteran Brazilian before – an exhibition match in a Philippine shopping centre three years ago – and the neutral consensus seems to hold that he will have too much ring-craft for Silva.

Yet the eccentricity of the scoring plants a seed of worry. Some fights have been won in Beijing these past few days through scatty adjudication. Clean, hurtful punches go unseen. Mysterious, phantom blows register.

On Saturday, Darren Sutherland landed a beauty that forced his opponent into a standing count. Yet, it went unrewarded by the ringside judges.

So Egan needs to be significantly better than Silva today to be confident of victory. And his body language suggests that is precisely his intention.

Head coach Billy Walsh revealed: “Kenny is looking very good. He’s just concentrating on himself and his performance in the ring. He knows he’s going to have to be clinical. But he’s a better boxer than Silva.

“On the law of averages, you’d have to fancy him.”

Expectation brings an unreadable dimension to today’s fight. Both Egan and Barnes have family over from Ireland and both are acutely aware of the interest now beginning to bubble up back home.

With the failures of the Irish track and field team triggering a mild rush of disdain, all five Olympic boxers won a bout at least and three now fight for medals.

That creates a subtle tension. As Walsh observed yesterday: “We’re trying to keep things light and simple. We keep the same routines. In a sense, we’re trying to make this feel like any training camp in the a***hole of anywhere. The lads are kept occupied all the time. If they need to break from the monotony and go shopping or something, that’s what they do.

“But we’re all only human here. Of course, we feel the pressure and anxiety building. Personally, I’d be happy to be

heading home now with medals around their necks. But you have to earn an Olympic medal. And that’s what we’re hoping we will do.”

With a six year age advantage on his 32-year-old opponent, it is hoped that Egan’s supreme physical conditioning will come to the fore in the latter stages of the fight. Having watched videos of Silva’s two victories here (he beat Azea Augustama of Haiti 6-2 and the hardhitting Ghanaian, Bastie Samir, 9-7), the Irish camp believe that Washington fades in the last two rounds.

“We’d be hoping that Kenny’s southpaw right hook will slow him down,” said Walsh. “Body shots aren’t really scoring here and Silva has a high defence. So he’s going to have to be very accurate from the off. But he has all the skills and talent to beat this guy.

“Kenny is the man. He is at ease with himself and he performs best when he is happy.”

Barnes is first man in the ring today against Lukasz Maszczyk (noon Irish time) and will have his work cut out to reverse a 12-point defeat suffered against the Pole on his international debut.

Maszczyk is a tall, awkward customer who can switch from southpaw to orthodox at will and is not afraid to mix it. The key for Barnes is getting in close enough to score against a somewhat more technical opponent. The Pole has shown mixed form to date, stopping an out-classed Saidu Kargbo of Sierra Leone in the third round and just edging out Jafet Uutoni of Namibia on count-back after a 5-5 tie.

As Walsh reads it: “Paddy is throwing three times as much leather as this guy, but he’s got to make it count. His accuracy has to be good. I felt he was very edgy in the first round last Saturday after waiting around so long to get in the ring.

Edge

“Bear in mind that three of the other guys had two fights over them before Paddy finally got in. He was, effectively, waiting around for two weeks and I think it put him on edge.”

Barnes himself admitted that he had had a virtually sleepless week since the draw assigned him a bye, but his performance against Jose Luis Meza of Ecuador improved steadily as the fight went on.

By the fourth round, Barnes was completely in control against a palpably hurt Meza. And he looked like a man who had just had a great boulder lifted from his chest.

In a sense, perhaps he had. “Maybe I was a bit too eager to get in,” explained Barnes. “But I definitely feel that I can kick on now. I know my fitness is there. That guy was running away from me in the end.

“I’d never do that. Even if I felt I was going to be knocked out, I’d keep on fighting. I don’t think there’s anything in this division to worry me too much.”

On an Olympic page drenched in tired, old woes for Ireland, the boxers offer a torch of hope.

"Better go, or they'll think I'm on something," said the middleweight with the rapper's soul. "But all I'm on is porridge!"

Sutherland's colourful club coach, John McCormack, declared him "the best middleweight this side of Rio Grande" after some of the most venomous left hooks seen in the Workers' Gymnasium last week pitched Algerian Nabil Kassel into a stupor.

Power punching doesn't always meet reward in the technical church of amateur boxing and a worry lingers that Sutherland may have to rein in his lust for old-style scrapping if he is to win an Olympic medal this week.

He is a pro fighter in style and language and will move to the paid ranks as soon as this adventure ends. If that's not Wednesday, when he goes on a revenge mission against Alfonso Blanco Parra of Venezuela, then Sutherland will be assured of leaving the amateur ranks with an Olympic medal.

The South American beat Sutherland by seven points at last year's World Championships, but Irish coach Billy Walsh believes Sutherland is "a far better fighter" now.

Sutherland, Paddy Barnes and Ken Egan all have medal fights this week, fuelling a strong sense that, in the business of High Performance, the boxers now lead the way.

The two youngest members of the team, John Joe Joyce and John Joe Nevin, may have been evicted but Egan is highly-fancied now to medal at lightheavy and Saturday's victories by Sutherland and lightfly Barnes radiated authority.

Not many fights are stopped in the amateur game, but Sutherland had Kassel walking on legs of cooked spaghetti before the referee stepped in and Barnes forced Ecuador's Jose Luiz Meza into a fourth-round search for a fire escape.

Egan and Barnes fight for medals tomorrow. Barnes is first in (noon Irish time) against Poland's European Union bronze medalist, Lukasz Maszczyk, and the Dubliner takes on 32-year-old Brazilian Washington Silva (2.16pm Irish time).

Barnes' defeat of Meza was hugely impressive, the South American having no answer to the Irishman's aggressive, front-foot style. Meza actually edged the first round 3-2, but Barnes found his range, winning rounds two and four emphatically.

In fact, the last minute of the fight was notable for the Ecuadorian virtually running away from Barnes, the Irishman chasing him like an angry stag. Given Barnes had a six-point lead, Meza's retreat was the gesture of a man in pain.

Described by Walsh as being "like a Yorkshire Terrier who would bite the ankles off you", Barnes was ebullient afterwards. Having been given a bye through the first round, he had spent a virtually sleepless week waiting to climb through the ropes.

"I was hoping for a bye to begin with but when I got it I was that nervous I could hardly sleep all week," said Barnes.

"So it's brilliant to get that out of the system. With him (Meza) being South American, I was expecting him to fight toe-to-toe. But I hurt him a few times and that backed him off. Eventually, he didn't want to know. And, if he wanted to run away, I was happy to let him run. So long as I was winning the fight."

Barnes was the first of the Irish boxers to qualify for Beijing (at the World Championships in Chicago) but believes he still has everything to prove here.

"I got to the quarter-finals of those Worlds, I got to the quarters of the Commonwealth Games, now I'm in the quarters of the Olympics. I better go one better this time. But I think I can. I've improved a lot in the last two years and I'm a lot more experienced."

He has big family support here too, with his parents Patrick and Ellen, brothers Garreth and Thomas and girlfriend Marie all cheering him from the bleachers.

For Sutherland, that kind of back-up might constitute a distraction.

Notoriously single-minded, he is a virtual prisoner to routine, known to get up at 4am for bowls of porridge filled with fruit and nuts. An extrovert personality tends to camouflage a resolutely serious mindset.

Walsh said: "Darren always talks himself up, but he needs reassurance the whole time from the support staff."

Saturday's fight with Kassel was close. Sutherland led just 14-13 after three rounds but he then demolished the Algerian in the fourth. Eventually, exposed to his fourth standing count in the contest, the referee deemed Kassel to have taken enough punishment.

"I just wanted to lay down a marker to the rest of the guys to stand up and take notice," said Sutherland. "It's no secret I want to go pro, so I see this as a good marketplace for me to put my skills on display.

"It's clear I'm more tailored to that game. I'm punching really hard. It said in the notes for the Irish team that I was one of the hardest punchers in Europe and I've proven that I can dig. I'm here to fight, I'm not like a dancer trying to move out of the way. Sure I can box. But I live to fight!"

In an Olympics for charisma, he'd be a certainty for gold.

Deep down, though, the same impulse would have governed them: the impulse to fight. Barnes and Sutherland don't look like men who were born to watch others fight and, when it arrived yesterday, they seized their opportunity hungrily. In typical fashion, Barnes ground out a victory against the Ecuadorian Jose Luiz Meza while, earlier in the day, Sutherland overpowered the game but limited Nabil Kassel of Algeria.

Ireland now have three fighters in the quarter-finals and, whatever happens next, they have not just proved themselves to be the best prepared Irish team ever but also the most successful since Barcelona in 1992. At Atlanta four years later, Damaen Kelly and Brian Magee reached quarter-finals and lost. Three fighters standing one bout away from a medal is unprecedented in the context of recent years.

But still they aren't happy. Not yet anyway. "Not until we've done something," said Gary Keegan, the team's high-performance director, earlier in the week. By something he meant win a medal. That is the next logical step in an ambitious process that has been six years in the making.

As Barnes savoured his victory, his coach Billy Walsh stood a few feet away and tried to evaluate the week. It wasn't a simple process. True, they stood on the verge of glory but Billy knew his maths. If Ireland had three boxers, that meant that two had been beaten and that troubled his peace of mind.

"I'm never happy," he said. "I hate losing. The boys know that. Sometimes I can't talk to them not because of what they have done but because I'm sick with myself, thinking there was something I could have done to get them there. We are success-driven and we want to get as much as we can. We want to get as many medals as we can. We want to get to as many finals as we can and we won't stop until we get there."

Yesterday the juggernaut trundled on, leaving two more casualties in its wake. When they arrived at the venue, they would have hoped for two victories but only banked on one. They were certain Sutherland would have too much for the Algerian but, although Barnes had impressed during the pre-Olympic training camp in Vladivostock, they knew Meza was an unknown quantity and that bothered them.

Even more so after they witnessed a scrappy first round which left the Ecuadorian in front by a point. Barnes saw no reason for panich. "I'm a slow starter," he said. "I knew it'd be only a matter of time before I'd grind him down. And I did. In the last round I was up and he still didn't want to know. That showed how much I was hurting him."

And if they were a contrast in styles outside of the ring, Barnes and Sutherland were equally so within the ropes. Where Sutherland went about his business methodically, biding his time, picking his punches, Barnes charged forward like a ferret, snapping at his opponent's heels, trying to draw him into a battle. Three more scraps and the Belfast fighter will happily trudge home with a gold medal around his neck.

They are both impressive in their different ways. Sutherland, a touch cocky to those who don't know him, is an engaging, thoughtful boxer who likes to entertain as well as fight.

"People who have seen me in the Stadium know I'm never in a dull fight," he said. "I always come to fight. There was never a period in that fight where I was going to protect a lead."

Like Barnes, he trailed early on but it was clear from the third round that he had too much raw power for his opponent. Eight seconds from the finish it was all over as Kassel suffered his fourth standing count. "Easy, easy, easy," rang the chant around the arena and, in the end, it had been, though by his own admission Sutherland had walked into too many big punches for comfort. He greeted his victory with as much relief as happiness. Early in the week the novelty of rubbing shoulders with the likes of Nadal and Tyson Gay in the Olympic Village had worn off and he had to endure the interminable wait before he got to the ring. "I'd prepared myself to fight on the first night," he said. "Then to have to wait the whole week. It kind of dragged on."

He knows he's still up against it, though. They all do. On Wednesday evening he steps back in the ring to face Alfonso Blanco of Venezuela, who beat him 20-13 at the World Championships in Chicago last year. If you witnessed Blanco's mauling of Argenis Nunez in the preceding bout yesterday you would have to fear for Sutherland's chances.

"I expect a tough fight," he conceded. "He beat me in the Worlds but this is a different kettle of fish. I'm in the tournament now. I'm going to get in there and give it my all. I'll be there to fight. Not like a dancer trying to move out of the way. I can box but I like to fight."

On the previous evening, both Barnes and Kenny Egan will be in action on what is the biggest day for Irish amateur boxing since finals day in Barcelona 16 years ago. Barnes will face the Polish fighter Lukascz Maszczyk who beat him when he made his first senior international for Ireland and, in that, he saw a positive. "So I would really love to get one over on him."

The thing about Barnes is that at 21 he is still just a kid and anything he did in Beijing would be considered a bonus. For Egan, it is different. At 26, he has been Irish light heavyweight champion for years and winning an Olympic medal will merely feel like a long-awaited destiny. Standing in his way is Washington Silva of Brazil and they know that if Egan shows up with his A-game, he will have too much class and skill for his opponent. They know too how shattering it will be if Egan manages to leave it behind him.

Until then they will continue to work hard and quietly bask in the spotlight they have earned for themselves. Yesterday Walsh bumped into a friend from home and he told him about a scene he had witnessed the previous week. The man had been passing by the Oliver Bond flats off Usher's Quay in Dublin when he'd seen a girl and two boys on a balcony with makeshift gloves, sparring and throwing punches.

Thousands of miles from home, it is those kind of thoughts that keep them going. Maybe, Billy thinks, the kids of the future won't just dream of doing cartwheels like Robbie Keane or of scoring bootless goals like Jason Sherlock but of putting on gloves like Paddy Barnes or Kenny Egan and finding a fulfilling career in the ring. And they know they are getting there.

- in Beijing

The 19-year-old Mullingar bantamweight had no answer to the wicked right hook of Mongolian Badar-Uugan Enkhbat, and lost all four rounds in the Workers' Gymnasium to bow out of the Games on a 2-9 score.

Nevin offered no excuses, admitting that his corner warned him repeatedly to guard against Enkhbat's vicious right, the weapon that brought him silver at last year's World Championship and an Asian title.

"All I wanted to do was perform," said Nevin, "but it's hard when you come up against that kind of opponent. I tried my best but I probably shouldn't be out here even. I'm four years ahead of myself. 2012 are meant to be my Games, but I'm getting all the experience I need out here."

Nevin never looked to have his opponent in any discomfort and, trailing 1-4 at the midpoint, he faced a virtually impossible challenge.

"The guys had warned me about his big right hand," he conceded. "But, when I was stepping in, I was laying my left hand down and he was landing the right hooks.

"He's a clever boxer, just too good on the day. Once he got the lead, he was very difficult to catch. I had to walk onto him then and he was getting me with the big right. But look, 12 months ago, all I was looking for was a senior championship. So to be here at the Olympics is way ahead of what I expected."

Head coach Billy Walsh offered no excuses. "John Joe threw a couple of good left hands that I felt maybe deserved a score, but the best man won," said Walsh. "John Joe likes to fight the fight that your man fought. They're both counter-punchers.

"So, whoever gets the lead, then the other guy is chasing. And, unfortunately, John Joe had to do the chasing."

Ireland's boxing challenge continues today with middleweight Darren Sutherland expected in the ring against Nabil Kassel of Algeria around 9am Irish time and light-fly Paddy Barnes in against Jose Luis Meza of Ecuador at midday. Both got byes in the first round and Walsh described them last night as "climbing the walls and ready to go".

No words could console the 20-year-old Mullingar light welter after a warning for holding effectively cost him victory in a bruising Olympic contest against Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic.

Joyce lost the fight on a countback, having drawn 11-11, the winning punch landing just 14 seconds from the bell. “I have to live for four years with what I did today,” a tearful Joyce told us, his voice breaking.

“The hardest part is that this is the Olympics. “Hopefully, I’ll come back. But… it’s hard. I’m young, but four years is a long time away. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Sure you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.” Ireland’s first defeat in the Workers’ Gymnasium could not have come in more heartbreaking circumstances, the Irishman coming back from a nightmare first round to lead 10-8 entering the final minute.

Yet, on a day when scoring trends came in for scathing criticism, there were no excuses from the Irish camp. Joyce did feel that Diaz might been given a warning for use of the head, yet he had no appetite for moral victories.

“At the end of the day, he was stronger and better,” he said. “I was penalised for holding, but it was early enough. And, at the same time, I deserved it. You know he was always in my face and I didn’t know what to do.” The fight was ablaze with incident, Joyce taking a standing count in the third, a round he won 5-1.

Then, midway through the fourth, head coach Billy Walsh was ordered from the auditorium after a series of warnings from Korean referee Kim Jae-bong. There were few portents of such drama early on when Diaz stormed into a 3-0 lead inside 40 seconds.

The Dominican fighter won the round 5-1, gaining two points from Joyce’s public warning. A rout seemed possible. But Joyce stormed back with some smart left hooks in the second to win 3-2, the referee already wagging an admonishing finger in Walsh’s direction.

Walsh explained afterwards that he was concerned that – as the action grew increasingly fevered – Joyce might draw another warning from Kim. “It looked pretty imminent,” he said. “Actually, Johnny was fortunate when you look at it because the referee was pretty lenient after that.”

Walsh revealed that a letter had been passed around the Olympic village at breakfast yesterday morning declaring that the authorities would “come down heavily” on boxers who held or danced around without punching. Agony “We can have no complaints” he said. “John Joe deserved the warning.”

If so, the agony was in the execution of justice. For Joyce had rallied to lead 11-10 when – 14 seconds away from glory – a lightning Diaz combination effectively dumped him from the Games. “I wasn’t able to fight at all,” he lamented afterwards. “It was scrappy enough by me.

He (Diaz) came out pretty strong in the first and I wasn’t expecting him to come that strong or to be as strong. But I kind of regrouped after that first round. “When we were in close he was working so hard. I thought he could have been given a warning for his head.

His head was in my face the whole time. But the referee only looked at me. That’s the way it is.” Diaz’s early attack was unexpected, given the more thoughtful style of his firstround victory. This time, as Joyce put it, “he came with guns blazing”.

Yet, gallingly, Joyce lost a fight in which he scored 11 points against an opponent who scored nine. That fact seems destined to haunt him. As Walsh observed flatly: “It’s hard for Johnny at the moment. He is going to be down for a long, long time. I’ve been through this myself, so I know what it’s like.

He’s got to go away and have a good cry. “I know when I lost I cried for a week in Seoul.

It feels like the end of the world and it should feel that way. Because it’s not pretty to lose and you shouldn’t be happy when you do. He shouldn’t be going around partying with a smile on his face. He should be sick to his teeth.” One look at Joyce vouched for the veracity of Walsh’s assessment.

His torso was marked with ring burns, his eyes bloated from crying. “I’ve to stick around now and watch all this boxing,” he said. “Four years I have to wait around now… no way of knowing.” Walsh suggested they might now reorganise their room arrangements in the village to ensure that Joyce’s grief doesn’t infect the other four Irish boxers.

Joyce had been rooming with Belfast’s Paddy Barnes, who debuts tomorrow. He expressed a hope that the Mullingar kid does not abandon his dream. “The killing thing is that, without the warning, John Joe would be in the last eight now,” said Walsh. “He has to live with that.

He’s put in a tremendous amount of work and has done really well to get here.

But we preach to them – when you get the opportunity you’ve got to take it. “There’s no second chance here and you might not be here in four years. Johnny could find it very difficult to qualify in four years time.

That’s the name of the game. It’s sport, it’s cruel and we all suffer.” Fourteen seconds from deliverance.

Four long years from redemption.

This is his town. Beijing may be all but under water, yet Egan floats somewhere above the deluge. He strides in to the mixed zone, like a kid riding a glass lift.

His face holds no secrets.

Ireland's boxing captain will fight next Tuesday for an Olympic medal. He has a good handle on his opponent too, even if ritual now demands a little evasion. When a Brazilian journalist asks Egan what he knows of Washington Silva, the Irish boxing captain takes refuge in blarney.

"I can't even remember what I had for breakfast, that's what boxing is doing to my head" he grins.

Courteously, he then dispenses a few bland platitudes about Silva. But, quickly, he closes a door. Egan is loathe to play this game, loathe to talk about the man who stands between him and Olympic bullion.

Exhibition

But he knows exactly who Silva is and how he needs to fight him. Three years ago, in a Philippines shopping centre, they fought an exhibition. Both were preparing for the World Championships in China. Egan won.

Yesterday, they both navigated the path to a rematch.

Egan was a classy 10-2 victor against the self-proclaimed 'best boxer in this division', Turkey's Bahram Muzaffer. Silva survived the bludgeoning fists of Ghanaian Basue Samir, 9-7. The next fight makes or breaks them.

Egan pulls us close and shares his take on this adventure.

"The whole idea for me as captain," he says, "is to be the first one on the field, the last one off it. So far, so good."

His victory, Ireland's fourth in four contests, roared with vindication of those who have shared the journey. "It's brilliant for Ireland," he said. "Especially after last year in Chicago (World Championships) when so many of us fell at the last hurdle for qualification. There was a lot of people out there talking bad about us.

"The whole training camp was supposed to be a disaster. The High Performance programme was no good. There was too much training being done. All a load of pony.

"This is all about trial and error and I was happy to be part of the old system under the IABA and now the High Performance programme. We're getting everything we need now, the training camps, the competition. And that's the only way forward."

He beat Muzaffer without ever having to step outside the margins of his talent. All four rounds went to the Irishman and when Muzaffer took a standing count in the fourth, little shell-bursts of 'Ole, Ole' ignited in the bleachers.

Yet this is a sport open to whimsical judging and, yesterday, not all of Egan's better work drew official sanction. Head coach Billy Walsh admitted to concern.

Overturned

"It is a worry, of course it is" said Walsh. "If you're going to score and not get them, there's a chance of being overturned here. Kenny landed shots very cleanly in the second round. I think everyone in the stadium saw them, except the five guys sitting down around the ring.

"Or at least three of them didn't see it at the same time anyway. But it is worrying because it was 2-1 at that stage. Landing five clean shots and not getting them can break your heart."

Egan has forced himself to become a student of the scoring. For hours this week, he has been alone in his apartment.

His conclusion is that "straight, back-hand scores to the head" impress the judges most. Not perhaps a happy deduction for someone noted for their body-punching, but Egan believes he can suitably calibrate his game plan.

Yesterday, again, he had bullish support and, while Walsh is loathe to tell his fighters the points position between rounds, bellicose Irish cheers pretty much did the job for him.

"You can hear the crowd through the head-guard" admitted Egan. "If I throw a good punch and nothing happens, you can hear a bit of cursing. And that's in your head, if you're after landing a punch and it's not coming up on the screen.

"But, when you hear the cheering, you know you're doing something right. It's good to have them there because it gives you a fair idea of what score you are."

His boxing was too technical for Muzaffer, the Turk reduced to chasing Egan around the ring in a vain attempt to end the fight early. The Irishman read every trap, identified every tripwire.

Irish captain for five years now, Egan did not make it to Athens and the disappointment burnt him like a branding iron. Yet he talks like a man who has drawn strength from it.

"I'm so proud to be captain of this team," he said. "We're in the gym all the time, six days a week, training so hard, all for those eight minutes in the ring. And the people outside, all they see is the eight minutes. You go out and give a bad performance, they'll probably say 'He mustn't be training hard enough, must be doing something wrong, eating all the food maybe.'

"It's nonsense. Because it's all on the day. You've seen it yourself the last week with all the world champions getting beaten here. There's actually three of them gone out of the tournament now. So the head is the most important thing. If that's right, you're laughing. It's a big jigsaw, but the biggest piece is upstairs."

Leading

Walsh believes that, leading from the troops from the front, Egan can achieve anything now.

"Great to have someone in the last eight," he said. "We always felt we were capable of doing it but the head part is the key part. Once Kenny was right in that department, he was in control from the very beginning.

"But the stakes are getting higher again now. The Brazilian is very strong. He'll go for four rounds. Kenny has all the talent on him but he's got to bring it to the table. If he's not going to be scoring, he's going to struggle. And this guy has a tight defence."

Silva certainly proved as much against Samir, who knocked out a Nigerian in the previous round.

Yet precedent is on Egan's side. He won that fight in the Phillipine and every fibre of his being seems rooted in maturity now. One win from a medal?

"Weighing all things up, Silva should suit Kenny," said Walsh. "Kenny's a boxer, he's taller. But they're not scoring things here like they did for the last four years. It's all to play for."