First Irish kickboxing title for Daire in Derry

DAIRE Feeny became Strabane Martial Arts Academy’s first ever kickboxing Irish champion when he annexed the ISKA 70kg ‘oriental rules’ crown by beating Sean Currie in Derry.

The 20-year-old who only took up the sport two years ago narrowly missed out on a world title earlier this year, went on to win a bronze medal at the ISKA World Championships in Vienna just a few short weeks ago before cementing his growing reputation at the weekend with a dominant victory that saw earned him a fourth round TKO.

“I’m very happy, it’s class. It’s nice to hold a title! When I received the belt, it was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders because from the moment I went in [to Strabane Martial Arts Academy] I wanted that belt and it has taken me two years but I got there in the end,” beamed Daire, who is much happier at his 70 kilo weight than he was at 62.5kg earlier in the year.

He continued: “I was a lot more confident at this weight and when I was at the World’s it proved that to me and I did well at that weight.

“I had four fights [in Vienna], fighting twice a day and I came back with a bronze, which was great preparation for this title fight.”

Daire was also delighted by the hard work put in by his Strabane Martial Arts Academy coaches, Dee McIntyre and Mickey Coyle ahead of Saturday’s clash with Currie.

“And the build-up after that was brilliant,” he beamed. “See getting developed, there’s no feeling like it in the world and I’m so glad to have got it done.

“Dee [McIntyre] and Mickey [Coyle] put me through a serious camp. They got me a real good fitness coach [Dylan Arnold Fitness] and they worked on my actual kickboxing skills. I was really training six times a week, twice a day. I was getting about 12 sessions a week in – it worked!”

Daire won’t be taking much, if any, time off over Christmas. He plans to continue training, although maybe not at full capacity, before planning for 2025 when he will again ramp things up in order to be at his maximum level for his next bout.

“I’m looking at bigger belts now, but I’ll take things a bit slower now,” he explained. “I’ll not be in there killing myself [over Christmas], I’ll enjoy the training a bit more now and take that wee step back. I’ll be keeping the same routine, just lowering the intensity and then we’ll look ahead to next year when we have a couple [of fights] in the pipeline but nothing confirmed just yet.”

Daire wasn’t the only Team SMAA member in action in Derry on Saturday night. Tiernan Conwell also fought under ‘oriental rules’, while Regan Maguire, Cahir Deeney, Brandon Browne, Pól Wilson, Jack Donaghey and Rhylie Browne also took to the ring and the night proved an overall success with five wins being sealed by the Tyrone combatants.