Darren O'Neill

Paulstown in County Kilkenny is where Darren O'Neill was born on 13 September 1985, the quiet starting point for a boxer who would captain Ireland at the 2012 Summer Olympics and later turn professional. The town gives up no grand monument, only a young man tall enough to tower over lighter rivals and stubborn enough to keep climbing through European finals and national titles. That much is known; the rest is imagination, but it is easy to picture him moving through local rooms and gyms with the certainty of someone who already believed he belonged elsewhere.