This blog had a busy weekend. In the course of three days we have covered the length of the country, from the beautiful green hills of Armagh to the steep San Fransisco like streets of Cork city.

Cork is a hub for Taekwon-Do, us Dubs may refute suggestions from those Cork boyos about it being the real capital of Ireland, but we'll give them one thing, it is the Taekwon-Do capital of Ireland.

The trials for the ITF world championships took place in Mayfield in Cork on Sunday. All the major players in ITF circles were there. All the groups attached to ITF Ireland including ourselves, all the groups attached to ITF Éireann and the lads and lassies from the MO (member organisation) Imp. Irish TKD Association under Micheal Flaherty were all there to pit their skills to find a slot on the national teams heading for South Korea this July.

The opposition was tough, it was never going to be any other way. Red Star had three competitors trying out. This was our first time trying out for the worlds and the guys didn't fail to impress.

Néidin, Adam and Alvy all qualified. Bhí bród mor orm. They're a good bunch, and it's imprtant now that they bond and I'm sure they will.

I know he gets mentioned alot in this blogs ramblings but Alvy never fails to impress. Since he went senior this year he is taking the big step up in his stride. On Sunday he met the fiercest of them all. Padraig O'Connor, former two times ITF World Champion. An incredibly strong guy and aggressive to boot. Before Alvy went in, I didn't tell him who Padraig was or what he had achieved, Alvy needed to know that he could take this guy. I said - "Alvy this guy is strong, he's tough and he'll come at you. You need to be sharp on your toes, counter him and move as fast as possible"

Alvy was up for the battle. And a battle it was. Although Paudy had the upper hand Alvy was holding his own, moving well, jumping double punching and angling off... then wallop!

Alvy was caught with a beautiful Sharp left hook. Alvy went down. Paudy is a hyper weight, Alvy's a middle weight he would have felt every pound of it. When I went over to him, he was aware of what had happened, but he kept saying "I'm out, I'm out" - this told me he was fine, if he wasn't saying anything that would have been different!

I told him "sit up" , he didn't move and he said "I'm out" then that Irish mentality kicked in, I grabbed him by the dobok jacket and stood him up to "oohhhs" from the crowd. It was quite funny in hindsight. In that moment Alvy came back to himself. I said "your going to finish this, you're doing too well not to" he said "I am going to finish this" he said in his very direct Lithuanian blás.

I knew he would. And he did.

What a performance. Afterwards I asked him. "you know who that was don't you?" "not really no" he says back to me. "That's Paudy O'Connor, two time ITF world champion, both junior and senior" - "really?" he says back to me with a smile. "I will beat him next time" he said as he was holding his jaw. You know what, I believe him.

Exciting times lie ahead for Red Star, not only this blogs impending grading but these World Championships and the new colour belts that are starting to come through, Dara, Erika, Lauren, Alisha, Leon, Cian to name a few. Exciting times indeed.