Commonwealth Games' Michaela Walsh 'top of that podium' Team NI medal goal in Glasgow

It will be Walsh’s fourth Commonwealth Games and she returns to the spot where it all started in 2014 when controversially beaten by Olympic champion Nicola Adams over the final.

“I’ve fond memories of Glasgow,” said Walsh. “I think obviously at the time it hurt a lot, obviously getting so close to the gold medal...then I made me grandad a promise that I’d win a gold medal.

“I think you're just sort of crying over spilt milk, I was kid back then so when they look back now I'm very proud of that achievement and, obviously, it was a springboard into the rest of my boxing career.

"So I look back with great, great memories and I'm really looking forward to go back to Glasgow, where it all started for me.

“Definitely hurt a lot, especially being so close and obviously I thought I won the fight, but the judges didn't see that way...that's boxing and it's happened to me many times as well.

"So now I look back being really proud and obviously going then to Birmingham in 2022 with my brother Aidan and both of us winning gold together...I think that made it all that more special.

“So I think I would definitely take winning silver back then for me to win the gold in Birmingham with Aidan...that was one of the most special things.”

Walsh knows there is a target on her back as defending champion in Glasgow.

“I'm just going to go out there and do the best that I can,” she said. “There's going to be real tough competition but I'll be prepared and I'll be ready and whatever happens on the day happens on the day, but I know if I perform to the best of my ability I can be standing top of that podium.”

In the Gold Coast, Walsh got to the final again only to run into another hometown fighter and didn’t get the 2018 decision.

“It's boxing, it happens and if it is not meant to be it is not meant to be and it's just something you have to take and something you have to learn,” she said. “I took that on as just more experience and I made sure, going into Birmingham that it wouldn't happen again.

“In Birmingham, I remember my fights were very dominant in the lead up to that gold medal, so I was really happy with my performances over there.

"To do it along with Aidan was just so special and to go back to Glasgow now is going to be more special because it’s where I first sort of was starting my career nearly in a way and it was a springboard to what I've achieved as up-to-date.

“So, I'm really looking forward to going back and it's a young, sort of inexperienced team...there's obviously a few people there who have a lot of international experience, so I'm excited to go over with a team and a lot of fresh faces."

Team NI boxers topped the medal table in Birmingham with five golds, a silver and a bronze – but only Jude Gallager and Walsh are medallists returning from four years ago.

“I think that's boxing and the boxing cycles...like Aidan, he's retired and people leave this sport, people go on to do other things," said Walsh. “So it seems you can’t get rid of me!

“I'm still going strong, it's a young team but, listen, anything's possible in boxing.

“I think the team's really, really well-prepared, they're getting a lot of exposure, a lot of fights recently.

"I've seen them in training they're really, really putting the work in...so we're just going to Glasgow and if everyone performs to the best of our ability I think we could do something special.”

In Birmingham, Walsh finally struck gold by beating Nigeria’s Elizabeth Oshoba in the final.

“It was special...I got to keep my promise to my grandad and return home with a gold medal from the Commonwealth Games,” she said. “So that is something that will always stay with me.

"And it was even more sweeter being able to do it with Aidan.

“I used to always box before him but whatever way the schedule was he was on before me and I remember sitting in the room by myself screaming at the iPad and everything.

"After I was going ‘oh God, this is me...I’m going to have to do it now, no pressure big sister is going to have to go and try and win a gold medal’.

"And, thankfully, I did.

“It was amazing to win, it wasn't even more so the medal itself, it's what it actually meant to me.

“I remember in 2014 when, sadly, my grandad started losing his life.

"I remember making him that promise and I think just being able to keep that promise, it was always in the back of my head with two silvers...obviously a medal, any medal, doesn't define me as a person.

"But I think it just was personal to me because I made that promise to my grandad and just going out there to be able to do that meant a lot to me.

“I remember breaking down a wee bit on the podium because I nearly felt his presence with me, that he was looking down at me.

"So just being able to do that was something special and I'll keep that with me for the rest of my life.”

TEAM NI: Catlin Fryers (51kg), Nicole Clyde (54kg), Louis Rooney (55kg), Michaela Walsh (57kg), Jude Gallagher (60kg), JP Hale (65kg), Kaci Rock (65kg), Jon McConnell (70kg), Janseen Hill (70kg), Eoghan Quinn (80kg), Garyn McAllister (90kg), Willie Jon McCartan (90+kg)