John McNally - Irish Boxing Hero

cville · November 04, 2007, 08:28:18 PM

Was listening to a great interview on Newstalk today with an author of a new boxing book on Irish legends and a guy called John McNally. This guy had such a story to tell as he won Ireland's first ever Olympic boxing (silver) medal in 1952 in Helsinki. Robbed on the last day by a Finn - conveniently as the host country hadn't a gold medal throughout the Games. He was snubbed in Belfast by the powers that were when he returned home as he had fought for Ireland. At Olympics Ireland has had more boxing medallists (9) than any other sport. It's a pity that we never honour these guys.

tyssam5 · November 04, 2007, 08:44:37 PM

You remember the name of the book or the author?

cville · November 04, 2007, 08:47:49 PM

not sure ... the writer was Barry Flynn ... 'Irish boxing legends'

Evil Genius · November 04, 2007, 10:21:35 PM

Wikipedia includes a reference to the book:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McNally_(boxer)
John McNally (born November 3, 1932 in Belfast, Northern Ireland} is a former boxer. McNally is most noted for winning a silver medal for Ireland at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki in the Bantamweight division. In the final McNally lost a split decision to Pentti Hämäläinen of Finland. A year later McNally won a bronze medal in the European Amateur Boxing Championships held in [[Warsaw], and won the Golden Gloves Championships representing Europe against the USA in Chicago. In 1954 McNally turned professional but his pro career did not reach the heights of his amateur days. He fought only 25 times and finished with a record of 14 wins, 9 defeats and 2 draws.

On 25th October, 2007 John McNally was recognised by the Sports Council of Northern Ireland for his contribution to Irish sport at a gala event held at Stormont in Belfast. The event saw the launch of the book 'Legends of Irish Boxing - Stories Seldom Told' by the Belfast author Barry Flynn.

Gold · November 04, 2007, 11:29:16 PM

there was a page long interview with him in this weeks A'town news--made good reading

Main Street · November 05, 2007, 01:15:45 PM

Quote from: cville on November 04, 2007, 08:28:18 PM
Was listening to a great interview on Newstalk today with an author of a new boxing book on Irish legends and a guy called John McNally. This guy had such a story to tell as he won Ireland's first ever Olympic boxing (silver) medal in 1952 in Helsinki. Robbed on the last day by a Finn - conveniently as the host country hadn't a gold medal throughout the Games. He was snubbed in Belfast by the powers that were when he returned home as he had fought for Ireland.
At Olympics Ireland has had more boxing medallists (9) than any other sport. It's a pity that we never honour these guys.

Isn't it ironic that the medal winning Boxers down through the years were getting the silent to luke warm treatment from fellow Irishmen. Those Ulster Olympians must have been the wrong type of Irishmen.

My first Olympic memory was of watching Jim McCourt, we always thought he was robbed of the medals (because he was invincible).
It was only much later that I found out that he was really robbed blind with the big decisions.

ildanach · November 05, 2007, 05:06:18 PM

He gave a great quote from an egyptian boxer who was being taunted be the iranian supporters (or it may have been vis versa) . John Asked him why he did not respond and he said he did it in the ring but lived by a motto. "If a man defeats you take your hat off to him, but if you win take your hat off to your opponent but make sure your hat fits when you put it back on". thought it was a great interview.

cville · November 05, 2007, 06:23:10 PM

Yeah - heard that too. Also was a quote about a Japanese guy called 'Tokyo Paddy' who was the guide to the Irish team in 1964 and by the end of the Oympics could do a Dublin and Belfast accent to perfection. But McNally was some boxer and it seems that he has been forgotten. We only seem to honour people when its too late.