There may be gold in that there ring

BOXING: Tom Humphriespreviews the action as Kenny Egan, Paddy Barnes and Darren Sutherland go in search of a medal in the quarter-finals

THIS BEING a time for remembering such things, our favourite Dubliners story is that of a frazzled Barney McKenna trying to describe the venue he needed to get to in a hurry.

"A big, bleedin' roundy place near the park" was the description that eventually got the Dubs to the Royal Albert Hall to perform back in the day.

The Workers' Gymnasium in Beijing could be similarly described. It is a hefty, crosstown jaunt away from the main action of these Games, a ride that takes you through several versions of Beijing. But it is there the Irish are mining the most solid results and underlining the sport's claim to be our most traditional and most happy hunting ground for medals.

Of the five who arrived here via camps in France and Vladivostok with high hopes last week, three remain this morning, each one a fight away from a medal.

On Saturday, Paddy Barnes and Darren Sutherland, fidgety spectators all week as a result of first-round byes, got their chance.

Billy Walsh, their coach and another spearhead in Wexford's discreet subversion of the world sporting order, had said all week he was looking forward to putting the two of them into the ring. He knew what he was talking about.

Both fought in the manner Walsh had anticipated. First, at the start of the afternoon session, Sutherland, lively and explosive as billed, overwhelmed Algeria's Nabil Kassel with a show that had just the right seasoning of patience thrown in.

Sutherland looked well aware of his capabilities and his opponent's limitations. He fought well on technical merit and made few mistakes. He is, as he says, a fighter "who comes to fight". Sutherland is quietly fancied here, and his all-action style is rewarded well by the scoring system.

He finished off the Algerian inside the distance, much to the delight of the Irish contingent who have taken up residence in the Workers Gymnasium.

Kassel endured his fourth and final standing eight count seconds from the end of the fourth round and said goodbye to the Games on that note.

Barnes, a more cagey but dogged pugilist, was part of the evening bill, and he confidently picked his way through what could have been a tricky encounter with Ecuador's Jose Luis Meza. Behind by a point after the first round, Barnes was unflustered and chiselled out his result clinically. "Just a matter of time," he said later.

The pair duly joined Neilstown's Kenny Egan in the quarter-finals, which begin today. In terms of return on investment, the boxers had paid out big by getting five through the notoriously tricky qualifying process. For three of those five to be a bout away from a medal is remarkable, especially given the two casualties, Johnny Joyce and John Joe Nevin, were largely here to gather experience for battles ahead.

The same could be said for Barnes, who is just 21 and will surely have another chance.

Walsh has pronounced the week's progress as satisfactory, but not yet enough.

"I hate losing. The boys know that," he says. "Sometimes I can't talk to them, not because of what they have done but because I'm sick with myself, thinking there was something I could have done to get them there. We are success-driven and we want to get as much as we can. We want to get as many medals as we can."

With medals in sight the focus swings to tomorrow night for Barnes and Egan, with Sutherland last into the quarter-final bouts on Wednesday. But a glance at the records suggests the Irish will have it tough to convert their pluck into medals.

Egan is felt to have a good chance when he faces Brazil's Washington Silva.

The following evening Sutherland has perhaps the most uphill of battles against the tremendously impressive Alfonso Blanco of Venezuela. Blanco beat Sutherland well at the World Championships in Chicago last year.

Still, hope springs eternal for the students of the sweet science. There could be songs and stories out of the big roundy place yet.