Full disclosure: I’m proud to call Jamie McGough, the first-time writer of Fighting Irish a friend, so the first challenge here is to leave personal bias outside the ring. I’ll do my best.

I’ll also try not to bang on too much about the hurdles the production has faced, which included the tragic death of Barrington Patterson, one of the play’s fight consultants, and Covid cases among the cast and crew that decimated the rehearsal schedule and even saw a key role played by a stand-in on press night.

Thankfully there’s no reason to bang on about any of the above, because you’d never know it from the exemplary performances of a fantastic cast in this wonderfully dynamic and contemporary piece of theatre, where sporting conflict is just the first bell for a family drama with a human, as well as political, message.

And if the production has had to overcome adversity, then it’s perfectly appropriate given the play’s narrative, as the challenge to do just that is inside and outside the ring for upcoming Coventry boxing star Jarlath McGrath. His 1979 return to the National Stadium in Dublin to defend his Irish light-heavyweight title descends into chaos after he is controversially disqualified by corrupt officials, leading to a riot and an apparent assault, for which the boxer and his brother Martin are arrested, meaning their next fight is in the courtroom.

Director Corey Campbell’s thrilling production covers all elements with aplomb, from the lightning-fast opening - where the dialogue feels almost deliberately difficult to keep pace with - through fabulously-choreographed fight sequences to the aforementioned courtroom, where cast and audience can take a breath and truly digest what’s been going on, and benefits greatly from Patrick Connellan’s inventive boxing ring set design that ensures everyone is ringside via in-the-round staging in the Belgrade’s intimate B2 theatre.

There are plenty of other elements to admire too. Jarlath’s studious brother Sean McGough is usefully employed as an occasional narrator to provide context, there’s plenty of music, singing and ‘the drink’ as you’d expect from an Irish saga, and no shying away from the love/hate relationships that form part of the family dynamic.

The latter is especially evident in his parents’ reaction to Sean’s political leanings, and even though the play briefly veers close to over-extending itself with a sub-plot about his activities during the Troubles in Ireland, it quickly finds its heart in a micro, rather than macro approach to the issue, with a very deliberate focus on the McGough family’s experience (and acceptance – or lack thereof) in Dublin and Coventry, which doubtless mirrors that of thousands of other displaced Irish people at the time.

Because as much as boxing plays a key role, the Irish diaspora is the true heart of this let’s-not-forget true story, the latter element brought into even sharper focus by a genuinely moving epilogue when we learn what has happened to each of the main characters in the intervening years.

I wasn’t the only one with something in my eye at the end, and all bias aside, Fighting Irish is an absolute knock-out that this judge can’t recommend highly enough. After seeing it I’m even more proud to call Jamie my friend and will be fascinated to see what he does next.

Five stars.

Reviewed by Steve Adams at Coventry's Belgrade Theatre where Fighting Irish continues to show until Saturday 16 April