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“I trained too f*cking hard to give that up” – Brennan climbs off canvas and into Senior final

It was a case of down but not out for Emmet Brennan on Friday night.

The Glasnevin middleweight was dropped in the opening round of his Elite Senior semi final by Camlough’s Fearghus Quinn, but would battle back to claim the narrowest of split-decision victories in what was perhaps the closest fight of the night.

Brennan looked as though he would run through walls to get the win against his talented Armagh opponent and constantly poured forward throughout the second and third rounds, pushing his body to the absolute limit in an immense display of determination.

Irish-Boxing.com spoke to the exhausted Dubliner afterwards and he admitted that “it was tough. It just came down to determination in the end. I got dropped in the first round.”

“It didn’t change anything, I just got caught with a silly punch – but I had no choice but to come back and give it everything.”

If I got beaten, I got beaten. It was just about giving my all after that bad first round. I trained too f*cking hard to give that up.”

The gutsy win sets up a final meeting with Dealgan’s Stephen Broadhurst on Friday, and Brennan is promising a similarly committed performance.

“It’ll be the same thing,” he predicted. “I’ll have to go out and work my balls off like I did in this fight. I’m very confident, I’ve worked hard for it and I’m confident of beating anyone.”

Like every single one of his Glasnevin team mates, Brennan would give thanks to his coach, and described how “my trainer, Jimmy Halpin, is the best amateur coach in Ireland.by a long way. Look at the lads he’s bringing through, Jordan Moore, Geoffrey Kavanagh, Thomas Carty, all top lads, and over the next four years we’ll definitely be pushing for Tokyo.”

Eric Donovan joins Gavan Casey and Joe O’Neill on Episode 2 of the Irish Boxing Show:

Joe O'Neill

Reporting on Irish boxing the past five years. Work has appeared on irish-boxing.com, Boxing News, the42.ie, and local and national media. Provide live ringside updates, occasional interviews, and special features on the future of Irish boxing. email: joneill6@tcd.ie

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