Wallace leads the way for Holy Family with Irish title
VICTORY for Conor Wallace at the Under-22 Championship Finals was the highlight of a busy winter schedule for Holy Family boxers as the Ballsgrove club punched above its weight on the National stage.
Wallace (pictured right), who has been with Holy Family for almost a year after leaving his club in Newry, won on a unanimous decision in the 81kg decider against Brian Kennedy from St Mary’s Daingean who was trying to retain the title he won last year.
However, there was disappointment the weekend before last for Eugene McKeever as his hopes of a National Elite title were shattered by outstanding Oughterard prospect Kieran Molloy.
Fighting at 69kg, McKeever was trying to add to the Irish Senior title he earned in 2016 and he duly won on 5-0 unanimous decisions in his quarter-final and semi-final against Michael Hennessy (St Monicas) and Tony McGlynn (Crumlin).
However, in the final he was up against the toughest of opponents and Molloy won on a unanimous decision and took the award for Best Male Boxer on the night.
There was certainly no disgrace in losing to such a high-calibre fighter and reflecting on the Holy Family performances over the past few weeks, coach Damien McKenna said: ‘To be in contention in all these National finals and win an Under-22 title, everyone performed very well and the coaching team have brought them to a certain level.
‘Conor has been coming down to us from Newry for the last 10 to 12 months and has won numerous competitions and got picked for the Commonwealth Games team.
‘Eugene has had nothing but bad luck through injuries and sickness but has been well able to compete since he first approached the club two and a half years ago.
‘On the night of the final against one of the new golden boys of Irish boxing Eugene showed the class he has got and everyone we spoke to said it was nip and tuck throughout the fight.
‘Molloy did catch him early on, but Eugene came back at him in the second and third rounds and a few actually thought he won those.
‘The main thing for him is to get into the National Elites again next year and get the title at the same atattempt. He got picked to join the HHigh Performance unit who started trtraining last Tuesday, and he’s going to America for three fights, and the experience of that will ststand him in good stead.’
Back at the Under-22 Championships, oChampionships, former Irish champion Christopher O’Reilly lost in the 7575kg final to European and World YoYouth bronze medallist Gabriel Dossen from Olympic Galway but shshowed enough to indicate that he belongs in this lower weight ddivision.
Eighteen-year-old Jordan Smith, stepping up to the Under-22 grade for the first time, beat Colum Colleton 5-0 in the semi-final but was then outpointed by his Glasnevin namesake Jordan Moore at 56kg, while Ben Teeling was very unlucky to lose 3-2 to former European Junior silver medallist Francis Cleary (Ballina) who went on to reach the final at the Elite Championships.
Holy Family also had two contenders in the National Under-18 Championships.
At 91kg, Michael Walsh was aiming to win his ninth Irish title, but after overcoming Owen Mc- Donagh of St Anne’s Mayo 5-0 in the semi-final he was pipped by Darndale’s Tommy Gavin on a 3-2 decision. There was some consolation for Walsh as he will compete in a second championship in July to decide who will represent Ireland at the World Under-18 Championships.
Holy Family’s other Under-18 representative, Shannon McKenna, was a beaten semi-finalist at 51kg.
And looking forward to competing in the Nationals in the coming weeks is yet another Holy Family member, David Nevin, who recently won a Leinster title.