Jack Marley breathes life back into Irish hopes in the ring

If you land at Charles De Gaulle, the next stop by train down from the airport is Parc des Expositions.

It brings you to an expanse designed for conventions and dotted with pavilions and, to the side, a building with its corrugated inner ceiling that goes by the name of Arena Paris Nord and it is there that the boxers at this summer's Olympics will either take flight towards medal bouts at Roland Garros or be on an early flight home.

Team Ireland travelled to Paris with high hopes - there almost always are high expectations where Irish boxing and the Olympics is concerned - and a 10-strong contingent including two previous medal winners, Kellie Harrington and Aidan Walsh, who took home gold and bronze respectively from Tokyo three years ago.

But since the boxing competitions had started on Saturday, it had proved tough going for Zaur Antia's team of fighters with Dean Clancy, Aidan Walsh and Gráinne Walsh all suffering split decision defeats in their last-32 matches.

Nought-for-three and suddenly there was pressure on Jack Marley to breathe life back into Irish hopes in Sunday's evening bout.

Seeded seventh, the 22-year-old was coming up against a rangier opponent in the shape of Poland's Mateusz Bereznicki in his 92kg last-16 bout but was the aggressor from the off.

After claiming the first round 4-1, he continued to be persistent where his opponent was tentative and if anyone needed evidence that it was going Marley's way beyond the judges' cards, the 'Ole, ole, ole' chants that began bursting from the arena underlined the direction of momentum.

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