West Belfast woman glad to be back to basics ahead of Glasgow 2026

THERE is a long success story connecting Immaculata Boxing Club with the Commonwealth Games – and it is one Caitlin Fryers hopes to continue in Glasgow.

Her club coach, Martin Lindsay, competed at the 2002 games, with Gerry ‘Nugget’ Nugent – the Godfather of ‘the Mac’ – in his corner in Manchester. It was Derry to Delhi for middleweight Eamon O’Kane as, after a few years at the west Belfast club, he brought home gold in 2010.

Joe Fitzpatrick was just 19 when he landed silver at Glasgow 2014, while one of the most remarkable stories of all saw Eireann Nugent – granddaughter of ‘Nugget’, and former foe of Kellie Harrington – end an 11-year exile from the ring to claim bronze in Birmingham four years ago.

And of course, before all of that, the great Jim McCourt showed his class to claim gold in Kingston in 1966.

For Fryers, though, those past successes serve only as inspiration as she prepares to join an exclusive club in the coming weeks.

“I was in the club with Joe when he won his medal - I’m there from a wee pup.

“I trained alongside Eireann when she was coming up to the last games… I actually asked her if she was going to come back, but sure she’s only after having a wee child.

“There’s great history at the Commonwealths in our club.”

The link will also carry on through Team NI coach JP Delaney, who was just coming to the end of his fighting days when Fryers first laced up gloves.

All these years on, the pair are reunited on the Commonwealth stage - and the 26-year-old credits Delaney, alongside her club coaches, with helping her get back to what she does best.

“I was 14 or so when he left, but my relationship with Jay is brilliant. As well as the lads in the club, he’s been a great help getting me back into form.

“We sat down and talked about what’s really the problem, or why I wasn’t getting the wins, or wasn’t performing… we were stuck in between two styles.

“So we went back to the old style, and he has helped me back to where I was a few years ago; working on what I’m good at, focusing on simple things and getting them right, instead of complicating things and introducing stuff that maybe wasn’t suited to me.

“He’s helped bring out the best in me over the last few months.”

And that means a return to the all-action approach that brought European silver four years ago – with pocket rocket Fryers bringing home bronze from the prestigious Strandja multi-nations tournament earlier this year.

That familiar relentless work ethic was also evident every time she stepped between the ropes at the recent international sparring camp in Belfast, though Fryers was keen not to give the whole game away against potential future opponents.

“It’s been unreal, getting different countries in, different sparring,” she said of the camp, the largest of its kind ever held in Ireland.

“It’s good to learn new things about ourselves and about our opponents coming up to the games… there’s no secrets, but once we find out something that works against them, we stop doing it for the rest of the spar and try something new.

“I’ve been busy since October, and I feel like my performances have gone up and up. It’s really important for me to be busy, not to be stop-starting… the last two years I was quite inactive, and you could tell the difference in my performances.”

In terms of the dynamics within the team, Fryers and Jude Gallagher received a ringing endorsement when the other boxers voted them co-captains heading to Glasgow.

“It’s good that it came from the boxers, rather than the coaches, because it shows they believe in you too… I would’ve agreed with anyone; anyone in the team could be captain, because we’ve gelled so well.”