Tae Kwon Do Ireland excel at the Irish International championships (IIC)

The 2011 Irish International championships took part in Neptune stadium in Cork on the 19th and 20th of November, like other years the stadium was packed with tough competition from a number of countries. TKDI coach Mr Gerard Allen had being preparing for this event with some time and as day one approached black belts from clubs such as Ballincollig, Blackrock, Carrigaline, Crosshaven, Galway, Innishannon and Midleton were ready to take to the floor.

The day began with patterns where TKDI dominated in the adult ladies traditional Tul section with Ms Aishling O Boyle of Ballincollig taking gold, and Blackrocks Ms Julie Buckley taking silver and Ms Reka Marcos taking Bronze. In the men’s traditional Tul section Mr Steven Nyhan of Innishannon TKD took silver.

This was a great start to the day just as the junior black belt sections were about to begin, Carrigaline’s Ms Rebecca Mc Grath was in flying form once again being crowned IIC for the second year running, following was Blackrocks Ms Courtney Casey also winning gold and Lena Mc Carthy winning bronze.

The day was shaping up nicely as the adults sparring was about to begin, first out was Mr David O Mahony who won gold in the -58kg section, next was IIChamp 2010 and BIChamp both years in 2010 and 2011 Mr Paul Manning in the -64kg section who was narrowly beaten by his English opponent and ended up taking Bronze, in the -70kg section was Mr Steven Nyhan who took bronze he had a few very tough fights and was narrowly beaten by the champion in this section, one of the main highlights of the day must have been the -76kg final TKDI’s Mr Daniel O Sullivan vs IUTF’s Mr Leon Brydon, this was a cracking fight with great performances from both competitors as Mr O Sullivan took silver. Finally in the individual sections was the veteran section where TKDI’S Mr Tony Casey met Mr Garreth Flemming in the final, this was a very close match as Mr Casey won gold.

Finally on day one were the team events, TKDI sent forward three teams which were the underage girls (u13), Adult female and the Adult male team. First out was our underage girls team ( Ms Rebecca Mc Grath, Ms Courtney Casey and Ms Lena Mc Carthy) who were unbeaten as a team defeated Scotland in the final to take gold, next was our adults ladies team ( Ms Abigail Lane, Ms Jessica Nyhan, Ms Aishling O Boyle, Ms Izzy Ni Coultir, Ms Julie Buckley and Ms Reka Markos) who defeated Scotland and met the IUTF in the final where we were beaten and settled with silver and finally was our male team ( Mr James Dwyer, Mr Paul Manning, Mr Steven Nyhan, Mr David O Mahony, Mr Daniel O Sullivan and Mr Garreth Flemming) who wer defeated by the IUTF and took bronze. This was not just a great day for competitors but for spectators and all involved in this tournament!!. Day two was all colour belt sections, this was another great day for TKDI, but the TKDI club that made the most impact was ITF World Champion Mr James Dwyers Midleton TKD, Midleton had 16 competitors on day two and won 26 medals including 8 gold. A big congratulations to Midleton TKD on this wonderful result.

A big THANK YOU to our TKDI coach Mr Gerard Allen for his great work and a big well done to Master Don Daulton for yet another very enjoyable tournament.