FOR a final few moments, the hall inside St Patrick’s PS, Newtownstewart is silent, bar the odd cup clinking behind the kitchen’s roller shutter.

Principal Peter Torney takes a last look around to ensure everything is in order. This is a big day for the school ahead of a big summer for the entire community, with the guest of honour about to make the short walk from his house next door.

Jude Gallagher is not given to public appearances or playing the local hero. The 22-year-old is warm and friendly, engaging to talk to - but all eyes on me? That has never been his thing, and never will be.

Since booking his place at the upcoming Olympic Games, however, that attention has been largely unavoidable. Everybody in Newtownstewart already knew him, now that notoriety extends far beyond town borders as the hours tick down to the opening bell in Paris.

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Gallagher - due in the ring on Sunday, July 27 - is one of 10 Irish boxers who travelled out to the French capital last week after completing a two-week training camp in Saarbrücken, and the first from Tyrone since Coalisland’s Tommy Corr went to the Los Angeles Games 40 years ago.

It means a lot to the county.

Later on in this June day, Lilian Seenoi-Barr – the new mayor for Derry City and Strabane – will stand in the middle of the ring inside the Two Castles club where Gallagher’s skills were sharpened, offering best wishes to Newtownstewart’s favourite son.

“Pascal McConnell might have something to say about that,” he laughs, deferring to the county’s All-Ireland winning goalkeeper.

Other dignitaries also cram into the upstairs of the former town hall building, which was given a fresh lick of paint in the days before, updated signage adding the word ‘Olympic’ to the club’s name.

That is something only a select few across Ireland have ever been able to do.

There are a series of speeches, including from proud dad and coach John while mum Grace watches from the wings, as well as Irish boxing stalwarts Eugene Duffy and Peter O’Donnell, before Jude takes the microphone, keeping it short and sweet as he thanks all for their support.

After official photographs, countless handshakes and back slaps, selfies galore, Gallagher goes home and collapses in a heap, feeling like he has just gone 12 rounds with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

But, amid all the pomp and ceremony, a day of celebration in his honour, the school visit is what will remain with him long after all the fuss dies down. Because, in the beaming faces of the children, Gallagher sees so much of himself.

It was right here, 12 years earlier, that the Olympic Games first entered his orbit. He was attending a summer scheme in the school when Katie Taylor, Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan et al were on the medal hunt at London 2012.

Having first laced up gloves at the Bishop Kelly club a few years before Two Castles opened up, teacher Fabian McGlone knew of the 10-year-old’s interest, and would summon him every day Irish boxers were in action.

“That wasn’t long after I’d won my first Irish title, I was maybe out in the yard playing football but Master McGlone would come out and say ‘the boxing’s on, do you want to come in and watch it?’

“My first memory of the Olympics is going into the classroom and watching the boxing with one of the teachers – for them now it will probably be watching somebody from their own town competing at the Olympics.

“That’s class.”

Before their arrival, Gallagher takes a few minutes to study and take pictures of the posters on the windows – gloves with good luck messages underneath, boxers going toe-to-toe, ribboned medals, the Two Castles crest, French flags and Olympic rings taking pride of place on every one.

Some show the silhouette of a fighter surrounded by key words that sum up what they think of the man stood in their midst: brave, strong, determined, tough, ‘Tyrone Tornado’. Winner.

Jude’s aunt - Leanne Loughrey - works at the school, pictures of his year group still adorn the corridor walls. Peter Torney can’t believe so much time has passed since Gallagher was walking the halls with a uniform on.

“He was one of those wee lads who would’ve been brilliant at whatever he decided to do – and I’m not just saying that because he’s famous now…”

Hands fly up the second the children gathered are invited to ask a question. Some already know him from the club and are locked and loaded – how do you even box?

“Hands up, chin down, just keep punching…”

How many trophies have you won? How many people did you box? When was your first fight? Others, meanwhile, just want to share their own news.

“I have a wee baby sister coming today.”

That announcement came from Oisín McConnell, six-year-old son of Pascal. Little did Oisín know but a few hours earlier, at 10am that morning, Croía McConnell was born, weighing in at 8lb on the button.

The school year may be coming to a close but, for now, classes are calling, teachers charged with putting the cork back in the bottle following an afternoon’s excitement.

But not before a final message from the main man.

“I’m exactly the same as all of you - I’m from the same town, went to this school, go to the boxing club down the street, same as a lot of you do now.

“It was in Master McGlone’s classroom I first said ‘you know what? I’d like to go to an Olympics’. No matter what dream you have, if you stick at and keep your head down, you can get there.

“If I can do it, so can you.”

********************

THE sandwiches in the middle of the table are no issue, but the big plate of rocky roads? They’re shoved down to the other end as alarm bells sound.

“I don’t need to be looking at those there,” smiles Jude Gallagher.

Sat in the café at the back of the Nisa shop owned by dad John, a few minutes refuge are found. It wasn’t always like this in here, mind.

During lockdown, when boxing’s return was held up longer than most sports, Jude worked in the butchery section.

Images of Rocky battering cow carcasses and chasing chickens are one thing, fielding regular questions about what was happening, and where his career between the ropes stood quite another.

No matter what though, every day he enjoyed the craic with butcher Vinny Gallagher. The state of Gaelic football is foremost on Vinny’s mind on this day, though he can’t help throwing it forward to what the future might hold courtesy of his former protégé – ready to swap the apron for something with a bit more swag.

“I’m looking forward to getting a fur coat for the trip to Vegas…”

Yet the Olympics could hardly have felt further away during the dark days of Covid.

Before the curtain came down, an 18-year-old Jude had been in the mix for the flyweight spot at a Tokyo 2020 qualifier in London, having blazed to a first Irish elite title eight weeks earlier.

His body, however, had other ideas. Within a month of being called into the high performance unit, he was an inch-and-a-half taller, the 52 kilo limit by now a bygone dream.

“Even if I was selected for the qualifier, sure they were put back a year, so I never would’ve made it - a year later I was 60 kilo.

“I was disappointed but, at the same time, what can you do?”

Tokyo was only ever a pipe dream, with Paris 2024 the one on the radar from the earliest of days. Gallagher played a bit of football with St Eugene’s, including for McConnell at minor level, but boxing was already in the blood by then.

Older brother Noel was the first of the clan to give it a go, with experienced coach Mickey O’Neill lending a guiding hand. John Gallagher was all-in too.

A hulking big man, unlike his youngest son, he had some experience after lacing up gloves during teenage years spent in Philadelphia, having been sent in the direction of Brendan Ward, a former pro from Creeslough.

“He was 10 years older than me but he retired undefeated - had about eight fights, real tough, but broke his nose that badly it would always bleed, so he had to give it up.

“I used to work with him and if we didn’t go to the pub after, we went to the gym and I’d spar with him. It was pretty brutal… they taught you how to throw a left jab and a straight backhand, then threw you into the ring with ex-pros and pros.

“There was a lot of lads there who had boxed in the Marines. The fella that founded the gym was an ex-Marine sergeant, fought in World War Two, the Korean war, Vietnam…

“He was dead on, but he was like the guy you see out of Full Metal Jacket.”

Tug of war was John’s sport of choice when he returned home, the smell of Deep Heat and petrol – used to wash off resin used for gripping ropes – filling the family’s old home above the Castle Inn the second he returned from training.

“We went to the Omagh show when he would’ve been pulling at it,” says Jude, before laughing, “I mind me and my sister making a few comments to the men on the other side of the rope…”

The competitive spirit that fuels his son is evident in the father too as he recalls, ruefully, a silver medal performance at the World Championships.

“We had beat the world champions in the semi-final. It felt more like losing the gold than winning the silver… we threw the final away.”

Over 20 years on, it still hurts.

“Awww,” Jude interjects, “don’t go there.”

Soon, though, boxing would fill the gap. A makeshift ring was constructed using wheelie bins and bale twine when Two Castles was in its infancy. Even then, John could see his son had something a bit special.

“His punches were so technically correct. In Bishop Kelly they had a balcony up top and he would train away, he used to always pop his head over the top, see how long was left in the round because the sweat was licking at him.

“The first spar he had up there, the boy was a wee bit heavier, same age, the two of them are getting into the ring and your man turns round him and says ‘you’re going downtown’. It just doesn’t work out that way for him.

“So we always knew he had talent.”

After winning the Ulster 9 county championships at 29 kilos, Jude slept with the medal for the next three nights. The seed had been sown, no going back but, just as he told the children at St Patrick’s, it was the bumps along the road that brought him to where he stands today.

********************

THERE were defeats coming through the ranks, as there are for most, but the Ulster elite loss to Colm Murphy four years ago showed new coach Eric Donovan exactly where work needed done.

A few mitigating factors played a part, of course. This was Gallagher’s first fight up at 57kg, against an opponent who was solid at the weight, and whose punch output was relentless from first bell until last.

But it was the red mist that cost him; affecting his judgement, playing into opponents’ hands. He knew he was better than that.

When something similar happened at the European qualifier in Poland last summer - Gallagher boxed beautifully to claim the first round against Cuban-born Bulgarian Javier Ibanez, before being drawn into a shootout – he knew something had to give.

Donovan, a former amateur star who enjoyed an Indian summer in the pro ranks, has wisdom oozing from his pores having turned his life, and career, around. The Kildare man would prove as much a mentor outside the ring as inside.

“I lost that Colm Murphy fight on rage,” says Gallagher, “that’s always been a thing for me, up until quite recently - being emotional, getting emotionally drawn to a fight and a crowd, then it can be anybody’s fight.

“It’s just about getting in your own head. Eric was a great man for helping me with that, he’s able to talk to you and tell you, especially when you’re training and when you’re in sparring, he sees it happening.

“So he’s always telling me to remain focused. If I get hit with a shot, don’t get carried away, don’t go chasing it back. Brush it off, go again.

“It’s still something I need to work on, it just doesn’t leave you, but I feel like I’ve got on top of it now. To be fair I’ve always bounced back well.”

Returning home after the European Games was a major turning point. Without an Olympic spot, the one he had first crack at nailing down, the race was now wide open.

The featherweight division was stacked at September’s Irish elites, with defending champion Paul Loonam, long-time rival Adam Hession, the dangerous Davy Joyce and Gallagher’s friend and fellow Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Dylan Eagleson, all vying for a place at the first World qualifier.

Lose, and he would likely be withering on the vine like the rest now, anxiously awaiting the next opportunity. But, after a string of superb performances, Gallagher finished top of the pile.

“That’s how it goes - it has the highest highs and the lowest lows. You’re either hot or you’re cold, there’s no real in between.

“You just keep working away because, even when there’s setbacks, it’s always setting you up for something. You need that mindset - believing that your chance will come and when it does, take it.”

That carried on to the World qualifier in Busto Arsizio, 20 miles from Milan.

Back in March it was here that Jude Gallagher became the sixth Irish boxer to qualify for Paris, and the only one from the eight-strong team that had travelled to Italy.

John, whose face had been a whiter shade of pale all week, was high up in the red seats of the E-work arena when he finally got to embrace his son, the Olympian. In that instant, nerves dissipated and pure joy took hold while, for Jude, tears flowed as emotion got the better of him.

Thoughts would subsequently turn to those summer afternoons in Master McGlone’s classroom, cheering Katie to gold, throwing every punch with Barnes and Conlan - 12 years since the dawning of a dream, now it is his time.

Next stop Paris.