Hylands to the Eade

If its direction and advice regarding the acquisition of domestic straps, your first stop must surely be the South Dublin environs of Tallaght, a patched up prefab off the Fortunestown road to be exact.

The grey wooden supposedly non-permanent structure, located deep in the heart of Jobstown has been the proud home of Golden Cobra boxing club for many years now and the producer of numerous successful domestic and international conquests.

Boasting three Irish champions at Super Bantamweight, Featherweight and Super Featherweight, this is the fistic grammar school of the three Hyland brothers Eddie, Patrick and Paulie.

In a couple of days’ time, three will become two when Eddie Hylands vacated Super featherweight title will head west, where Finbarr Eade 6-0 (KO2) and Mickey Coveney 11-13 (KO2), will chew over the prize possession.

Anyone acquainted with the regular attenders at the Hyland gym will have noticed an unfamiliar face making regular visits over the last couple of weeks. The tight knit fighting clan has until recently consisted of father and coach Paddy Hyland, his three sons and Irish title challenger Robbie Long, but there is now a fifth professional fighter in the camp and maybe just maybe that Super featherweight title will keep some of its Hyland connection

Mayo favourite Finbarr Eade has based much of his preparation for his highly anticipated Irish title clash in Dublin at the Hylands Tallaght gym, where not only is there bucket loads of domestic experience, it’s also not the first time Cockney tough-nut Mickey Coveney has been the focus of attention.

Current Irish featherweight king and WBF strap holder Patrick Hyland stopped Coveney in seven rounds back in February 2010 in a successful defence of his Irish title and has proved an ideal sparring partner for the Connacht contender.

Eade who begins prefight wind-down ahead of next Fridays Western showdown is delighted with how his preparation has gone and believes training with the Hyland brothers has certainly enriched his game.

“I am delighted with how my training has worked out. I have been spending a lot of time in Dublin training with the Hylands; they have been brilliant giving me great spares and advice and we have seen great improvements in every area of my game over the last few weeks”.

“I can’t thank the Hylands and the Golden Cobra crew enough for the help they have given me in my preparation for this fight, Paddy trained his son to beat this fella and that’s what we are working on again”.

Golden Cobra head coach Pat Hyland will be in Eades corner next Friday alongside Finbarr’s fathers Pat and is confident Finbarr has benefited from his time at the Golden Cobra gym and believes come next Friday night at the Royal Theatre, Castlebar, “their” title will remain in Ireland.

“We were delighted to be able to help Finbarr to prepare for his upcoming fight against Mickey Coveney, this is a tough fight for Finbarr but he has worked really hard over the last couple of weeks and looks very sharp and strong, we are very confident Finbarr can keep Eddie’s title in Ireland”.