Back to her best – Cliona D’Arcy puts her head down to return to winning ways

By Owain Comerford

Bouncing back to her best following her 2022 Youth World Championship victory “unbelievable” was the way Cliona D’Arcy described her victory over Shauna Buckley for the Women’s U22 81+KG Title last weekend.

Clearly ecstatic to be back to winning ways, the current Irish Third Level Champion jokingly stated she “took too long of a break celebrating” off the back of her World Championship win.

Back in the ring, and here to stay, D’Arcy recollected having “two tough contests over the last year and two months or so that didn’t go my way,” results that galvanised the Galway woman into “putting (her) head down, and giving it my all for these Championships.”

Immensely proud of both herself and her fellow Connacht boxers, and rightly so with the westerners getting back to winning ways, D’Arcy spoke admirably about her fellow provincial boxers stating “we’ve all done so well and we’ve gave great performances.”

It certainly seems to be just the beginning of a wave of young amateur talent from the west, with the St Angelas student stating “it’s the most Connacht boxers I’ve seen in a Championship, with a lot of girls from up Mayo-side.”

The Galway woman is determined to not break her stride going forward and hopes “to get back in training with the Irish team” and be considered as part of the selection process for the upcoming European U22 Championship in October, wanting to “show that (she’s) willing to train hard” to get there.