Drogheda MMA fighter Dayne (13) aiming for World Championships in Abu Dhabi on the back of European success
The St Mary's DS first-year student, now 13, was just 12 when he travelled to Serbia in February with members of his club SBG Drogheda, including head coach Paul Byrne, and Dayne's dad Tony also accompanied him on the trip.
Dayne had started competing in April last year and in just a few months he won three national gold medals as well as a gold and silver in jujitsu.
He embraced the tougher challenge of competing in Europe brilliantly, defeating opponents from Serbia, Israel, Switzerland and Romania to make it all the way to the final in his category, the impressive victories coming by arm bar, knockout, unanimous decision and then anaconda choke in the semi-final.
Unfortunately the final proved a step too far as Dayne lost by split decision to his Ukrainian opponent, but he is undeterred and continues to be totally dedicated to what is a tough sport.
Proud mum Ciara explained the lengths her son goes to in his pursuit of success.
'Dayne started doing MMA around when he turned 10 years old, instantly took to it and was obsessed. He went from training three times a week to six days a week, sometimes two or three classes in a row, ranging from JuJitsu and kickboxing to wrestling. His stepdad Karl trains too.
'When Dayne arrived home from Serbia we had about 30 family members and friends waiting in the house to welcome him home. We are all so proud of him for his achievement, for the town and for his club. He is so dedicated at such a young age and we all firmly believe he will go far with this.
'His video got over 2.2 million views on Facebook alone and thousands more on Instagram, with people saying he is one to watch, and his head coach Paul Byrne goes above and beyond.
'The main thing he is working towards now is making Team Ireland again, this time to travel to Abu Dhabi for the World Championships in July.'
Ciara said the family were very grateful for sponsorship they'd received from local businesses to help Dayne compete on the biggest stage.
'MMA is not funded by the government like other sports,' she pointed out.
'Athletes rely heavily on donations and sponsors as they are costly trips and there is a short space of time to plan for them, from getting selected to fight day.
'For Serbia, we had less than a month to get it planned and in order to get there we had a lot of help from local businesses Becky's Basic Services, Callunas tanning salon, Auntie Paula's Crèche, Avanti Drogheda and even the staff from his old primary school Marymount NS Drogheda.'
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