Everyone pleased as punch as boxers return

FROM CHINA to Clondalkin. The buses to Boomers were lined up and ready to roll. Terrific excitement. All the seats were taken. The feeling was magic.

As the years pass, those coaches will become west Dublin's version of the GPO in 1916. Tell us again, Grandad, where were you on that Tuesday evening in 2008?

"Aboard the bus to Boomers, son, with Kenny Egan when he took his Olympic silver medal back home to Clondalkin . . ."

Ireland's Olympians returned from Beijing yesterday to a noisy welcome at Dublin airport. They were three medals heavier than when they left - the country's best result at the games in 50 years.

Credit for the haul goes to the magnificent boxers, but in the crowded arrivals hall there was honour for all the athletes who brought pride to their home place through their sporting achievements.

The clinking of precious metal may not have accompanied most celebrations, but no matter. The young men and women in the green and white tracksuits were borne away from their Chinese adventure on gilded clouds.

They were not the centre of attention this time - the main media attention was lavished on the three medal winners, with the lion's share going to the silver-plated Kenny Egan, a handsomely photogenic and microphone-friendly light-heavyweight from Dublin.

As the flight carrying the team taxied up to Pier C, an arm snaked out of the cockpit window with a Tricolour flying from the end of it. Three fire tenders, sirens blaring, escorted the jet to the stands.

On the ground, a receiving line of dignitaries waited; two chains of office, sundry officials from sporting organisations and Minister for Sport Martin Cullen made up the numbers.

Kenny Egan, Darren Sutherland and Paddy Barnes emerged at the top of the steps, holding up their medals. Darren wore a hat he bought in China.

"Welcome Home Boys," read a huge flag pressed against the windows of the terminal building.

Inside the reception area the families of the three boxers waited to see them. "I'm going to tell him I love him, and I've missed him. I can't wait to see him, it feels like a first date again," said Karen Sullivan, Kenny's girlfriend.

But first, the photographers had to be cleared - a hurdle far more formidable than any gloved opponent. As the lads smiled and pretended to bite their medals, the rest of the team filed into the building and left them to enjoy their moment.

Inside there were speeches, the first of many that the young boxers will have to endure in the coming weeks. Kenny's mother Maura embraced him as they were engulfed by cameramen. Karen had to wait another while before she could have a word.

The Chinese ambassador was there to welcome them. "Today is a great day and a very happy time," said Liu Biwei, a man who is no slouch himself when it comes to showing an athletic turn of heel. At the Green Party conference this year, he executed a memorably swift exit from the hall when China's record on Tibet was mentioned. But nobody mention the T word last evening.

Mr Cullen abandoned his script, saying he knew the team wanted to get away to see their families. Then he spoke as long as the supplied script anyway.

"Only you can understand what it's like to be in the white heat of battle," said Cullen sympathetically, a veteran of many a Fianna Fáil selection convention.

He has had a mixed Olympics, not least because of reports that he was seen coming from the first-class cabin on his flight to Beijing wearing his pyjamas.

"That was totally untrue," he told us later. "I was wearing a tracksuit during the flight."

Everyone wanted to talk to Kenny. Beyond in the main building, the huge crowd from Neilstown in Clondalkin chanted their hero's name. They were keen to get back with their man for the celebration planned later in Boomers pub.

He's a good-looking boy.

"He gets his looks from his mother," said his dad, Paul, who stayed in the background during the media madness. "I've all night to talk to him."

Finally, with bagpiper Michael Russell leading the way, the boxers made their way through the baggage hall and out to the waiting fans.

At this stage, the bus count to Boomers had gone up to three. The singing and chanting was fever pitch. The boxers were enveloped in their adoring crowd, making sure to greet the youngsters lined up to see them.

Twelve-year-old Kenneth McMechan from Neilstown was beside himself with excitement. "Do you box yourself?"

"No. But I'm gonna."

The swirling crowd made for the buses to Boomers, and Kenny enjoyed a little calm before the first stop at Liffey Valley.

He's still reliving that gold medal bout. "That medal was in me hand at one stage. It just slipped, it just slipped right away," he told reporters, a battle scar beneath his right eye. That's the athlete in him. But he's a hero, and if he didn't know it yesterday, he knows today.