Taylor makes European impact

Sports Woman of the Year May award: "I was getting ready for the All-Irelands," says Peter Taylor, "but we had no baby-sitter so I had to take Katie to the gym with me. I was busy training, but when I looked around there she was, in sparring with the boys." And what age was Katie at the time? "Ah, about 10 or 11," he says.

That, then, was Katie Taylor's boxing debut. In Norway last month, seven or eight years later, Finland's Eva Walstrom had cause to rue Peter's inability to find a baby-sitter for his daughter on that fateful day.

In the third round of their 60kg lightweight final at the senior European Championships in Tonsberg, Walstrom was stopped by the 18-year-old from Bray, who had already beaten the title-holder, Turkey's Gulsum Tatar, en route to the final.

And so, Taylor became the first Irish woman to win a gold medal at the European Championships. The mantelpiece in her Bray home is probably beginning to feel the strain, already bulging with trophies, won by Katie and her father, a former All-Ireland boxing champion. There's another award on the way, The Irish Times/Mitsubishi Electric Sports Woman of the Month for May.

Already in her collection is the Eircom FAI 2005 Under-19 Player of the Year award - yes, Taylor is also a football international. To underline her ground-breaking achievements, one of the earliest honours she received was that of Wicklow Schoolboy Player of the Year - at that point there just wasn't a category for the likes of Katie Taylor.

A hugely-gifted footballer, she captained the Irish under-17 team that just missed out on bronze at the 2003 Youth Olympics in Paris. She has gone on to become a member of the senior squad, winning her latest cap against the Faroe Islands on Monday, before returning to her books in preparation for the Leaving Cert.

"It is hard for her to combine it all," said Peter, who coaches his daughter, "but she is very dedicated and just loves the training. At times the boxing and the football clash a bit, but she's trying to keep them both going. Later in the year, if she makes the football squad, she'll be in Russia for a qualifier - and two weeks later she'll be back in Russia for the World Boxing Championships."

And not long after she will be hoping to start a sports science or physiotherapy course in UCD.

With the possibility of women's boxing being included in the 2008 Olympic Games, Taylor could yet prove to be Ireland's strongest medal hope in Beijing, not least because her weight - 60kg - is one of four being proposed for inclusion.

That, said Peter, would be her ultimate dream, to represent her country in the Olympics. "And she would have a great chance," he said. "She beat the reigning world champion last year and the European champion this year, so she's up there with the best."

As a former All-Ireland champion himself, how would he rate his daughter, the first Irish female boxer to receive funding under the international carding scheme (she received a developmental grant of €4,600)?

"Ah, I wouldn't have been as good as Katie is," he says.