Freddie Gilroy, who died aged 80, was the last survivor of the 1956 Melbourne Olympics Irish boxing team which thrilled a generation by bringing home a record haul of one silver and three bronze medals. Add to that the gold medal in the 1500 metres won by Ronnie Delaney, now the only surviving Melbourne medal winner, and the team total of five was not surpassed until the London Olympics in 2012.
Of the boxers who won bronze medals, bantamweight Gilroy and flyweight John Caldwell were from Belfast and Tony Byrne from Drogheda: welterweight Fred Teidt who won silver was a Dubliner.
In all it was a stunning success for a small country. Ireland was in 21st place overall in the medals rankings, and seventh in boxing. There was no Irish television service then, and Radio Éireann was off the air for most of the day. The build-up the games had been muted. Irish Times readers were accustomed to headlines that read "Irish boxers lucky", "Irish boxers beaten again". Sport was poorly funded, Gilroy's club St John Bosco had to fundraise to get £600 for the Ardoyne man's fare to Melbourne when he was added to the team at last moment, along with high jumper Brendan O'Reilly. Tony Byrne almost didn't get to Melbourne because he hadn't got the fare. After the games were over and medals won, The Irish Times remained unfussed. On the morning of the victorious team's return to Ireland, the paper was preoccupied with the British and France's ignominious withdrawal from Suez and the mopping up operation after the Hungarian revolution.
Gilroy turned professional and won Commonwealth and European titles and the Lonsdale belt for three successful title defences, the first Irishman to do so. In the King’s Hall in Belfast in 1962, he fought Caldwell in what had been billed as a grudge match between north and west Belfast, Caldwell had to withdraw with a cut over his eye after the ninth round. Some of the 16,000 present said it was the best fight ever to take place in Ireland. Gilroy regretted that it had ever taken place, saying it had driven a wedge between two men who had previously been firm friends. After boxing, he bought a pub in Co Down, but it was firebombed by loyalists. He emigrated to Sydney, Australia and later returned to Belfast to work for a furniture business and he did some boxing coaching.
Boxer Barry McGuigan drew inspiration from him. “He could really punch even in his 50s,” said McGuigan, who described him as a kind and decent man – outside the ring, that was. Actor Liam Neeson, who had boxed in his youth, was a big fan of Freddie Gilroy and always saw to it that he had tickets for the premiere of his films.
Gilroy married firstly Kaye Martin, with whom he had four children, three daughters and a son, Kim, Laura, Paula and Freddie junior. He is survived by them and his second wife Bernadette Chapman.