Young boxer wins the chance to train with Olympians

Tomás Carroll, an impressive young man from Hawkfield, recently took part in a special training session with two Irish Olympians, Jack Marley and Jennifer Lehane. The competition was run by Chadwicks, Ireland’s leading builders’ providers and proud supporters of the two boxers.

At just 14 years of age, Tomás has already won five Irish National titles – an incredible achievement from the young man, the Carroll family, as well as his coaches and teammates at Setanta Boxing Academy, Newbridge.

“My Dad saw (the competition) advertised by Chadwicks on Facebook. He entered my name into the draw, and they came back a couple of weeks later and said I won the training session with the two Olympians,” Tomás explained.

Dubliner Jack Marley won a bronze medal in the heavyweight division at the 2021 U22 European Championships before delivering European gold the following year. He made his senior international debut just two months later and went on to win silver at the 2023 European Games.

The result made him the first Irish heavyweight medallist at a major championship since 1947; it also secured his place at the 2024 Paris Olympics, when he became the first Irish heavyweight to reach an Olympics since Kildare’s own Cathal O'Grady, with the Adamstown man representing Ireland in Atlanta in 1996.

Meath boxer Jennifer Lehane was crowned European Taekwondo Champion in 2018 and 2019 before joining the Dublin City University Boxing Club. She went on to win the 2021 Irish National Elite Championships before joining the Irish Amateur Boxing Association High Performance Unit.

Lehane delivered a bronze medal for Ireland on her international boxing debut in 2022; and competed at the 2023 European Games as well as the World Boxing Olympic Qualification Tournaments to book her place at the 2024 Paris Olympics where she became the first Irish female bantamweight boxer to qualify for an Olympics.

Training with these two decorated athletes was a wonderful experience for Tomás. “It was a really cool experience to get their advice, their techniques and different skills like how to feint at your opponents. It was just cool to see their point of view of boxing,” he said.

“The session was an hour. We did our warm-up on the floor, then we went into drills and pads in the ring, and then we finished off with a hard bag session on the floor. It was really cool.

“They told me to just keep working hard – dedication; you might be the best from the start, but if you keep working hard, you'll come good from the end.” 

Tomás began his boxing journey in 2019 and has already delivered five national titles. His experience training with Marley and Lehane has certainly given the Hawkfield youngster plenty to think about and work on, as well as inspiring him to continue boxing long into the future.

When asked about his goals for the future, Tomás answered very matter-of-factly: “The 2032 Olympics and go pro after.” 

No ifs, buts or maybes – the boy has a plan in place.

Tomás’ dad, Liam Carroll, lauded the initiative, saying: “Boxing is probably one of our best Olympic sports, medal-wise, but sometimes it's underappreciated or not given the same recognition as other sports. For Chadwicks to do what they did and give young children the opportunity to train with two Olympians and to talk and sit down in a boxing environment, it was brilliant.

“And I suppose the other side of it is then Tomás probably wouldn't have had that opportunity if it wasn't for Santa Boxing Academy and Mick Lamb, Margaret Lamb and Fran Dempsey and all the work they do with the kids up there. They're a great boxing club.”