WHEN Jack White wrote ‘Seven Nation Army’, it is unlikely he envisaged the extent to which it would be adopted as a sporting anthem.

Along with the royalties from it being repeatedly played serving to put his kids through college, the song has been adapted as a chant of encouragement by supporters of numerous teams and individuals.

Mike McGoldrick is one of those and even before he started making his way to the ring for his four-rounder against Lewis Van Poetsch at Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse on Friday evening, the travelling Barrow fans were regaling him with that chant.

With Liam Conroy having to pull out of his comeback fight slated for the same card due to injuring his hand in training, it was left to the 33-year-old to carry the fighting pride of Furness solely on his shoulders.

And he did that comfortably, taking a 40-37 win over the durable Van Poetsch on referee John Latham’s scorecard, pleasing both his fans and trainer Johnney Roye with his display.

“I spoke to Johnney afterwards and he said he was pretty happy with my performance - particularly rounds one, two and half of round three,” said McGoldrick.

“But, I think, near the end I switched off a little bit near the end and he caught me with a couple of shots just to remind me ‘I’m not going to fall over here for you even thought you’re ahead’.“But it was a good fight, a good four rounds under my belt, a tough, tough opponent who hit me with some good shots and didn’t wobble at all, so overall I’m happy with my performance.”

McGoldrick, who ends his first year as a professional with three wins from his first three contests, set about trying to keep Van Poetsch’s high guard in position from the opening bell before seeking openings with combinations of uppercuts and shots to the body.

It was a strategy which he deployed to near-perfection, giving Van Poetsch a bloody nose too.

But the veteran of over 90 contests held firm in the face of some big shots from the Barrow light-heavyweight, although McGoldrick was happy to face a hardened opponent.

“The last fight I had, the guy was tough and threw back a lot of punches, and I felt like those fights are better than people who will just roll over and let you win,” said McGoldrick

“They let you know they’re there and hit you with little shots when you switch off a little bit. They might not hit you very hard, but they let you know they’re there.

“They are tough, these guys. His record is 90-odd fights and he’s only been stopped a handful of times, so to get through 90-odd fights and only be stopped a handful of times you’ve got to be seriously tough.

“He’s very defensively astute, but he threw enough punches to let me know he was there, so hopefully we’ll step up the rounds and the opponents next year, and work our way up to title level.”