What a weekend of boxing, we had. A busload of 12 boxers went up to Newry, Co. Down, and the twin Hartys, Jamie and Jason, were at the National Stadium boxing in the Cadet All Ireland competition.
Last December we had St. John Bosco Boxing Club visit us for a magnificent tournament, so it was the return match last Saturday and what a reception we got from our northern friends as they treated all of us like kings. They couldn’t have done enough for us and we were delighted as it was our first trip away overnight with a team. The boxers were Jamie Healy, who also took home the award for best boxer, as he took on the mighty Reece O’Reilly in a cracking contest. To get the award was also the icing on the cake for this future star.
Marky Carey took on Ronan O’Reilly in another cracking contest. Next was Mikey McNamara against Charlie McDonagh, Jordan Ahern took on Calum Kilcoyne, Mike McGowan took on Eddie McDonagh, Luke Barrett took on Brendan McParland, Lewin Bowring took on Eamon Derby, Johnny Harty took on Mike Dyas, Terry O’Brien took on Jack Lewis, Cormac Long took on Conor Vendell and Frankie O’Brien took on John Stokes. Out of the 12 contests we had 9 wins which was a fantastic display from our lads and they all did the club and county proud. Well done to everyone who travelled.
The Harty boys were in action with Jason on the Friday night beating Ross Boylan to secure his place in the semi final the next day against Joe Kennedy from Docklands. He won this fight on a 3-0 scorecard to book his place in this weekend’s final. Jamie got his ticket to the final by beating Pearse O’Leary so hopefully both can win gold and go on to represent Ireland in the forthcoming European Championships which will be held in the City West in Dublin.
This weekend sees a fundraiser tournament to raise money to Save the Sight of Laura and her brother in the Rathkeale House Hotel with 16 cracking fights on display with the first bell at 7pm and the entry fee is only €5. Please come along and support this very worthy cause.