Medal double for Castleisland in All-Ireland boxing championships

TWO young women from Castleisland represented Kerry and Munster in the National Stadium in Dublin on May 26. They fought their hearts out for the honour and glory of the Sliabh Luachra Boxing Club; one of them won her second Irish title and the other an All-Ireland silver medal. Sliabh Luachra Boxing Club member Katelyn Horan won her second Irish title on that weekend while Kerry and Munster Champion Danielle O’Neill came away with a hard-earned All-Ireland silver medal

Katelyn won the title in the ‘Girl 4’ 55kg in the National Stadium.

Her first was in 2015 at the same venue in the ‘Girl 1’ 48kg category. In that final, Katelyn gave a boxing masterclass in defeating an opponent to whom she was giving a height advantage of at least four inches.

Now in 2018, Katelyn is Kerry, Munster and All-Ireland champion. She made it through to the finals after a series of tough bouts in her qualifiers.

She kept the club colours flying with a hardfought semi-final win on Friday, May 19, against Kelly Hefferan of Geesala Boxing Club, County Mayo on a 2-1 split decision.

On Saturday she came up against a very strong and experienced opponent in Brainna Coleman. Ms Coleman was last year’s Irish champion and is from the Jobstown Boxing Club in Dublin. In the final, the first two rounds were very close as the girls scored some great shots on each other.

Her coaches had a chat with Katelyn and then asked her to change her combinations in the final round.

She came out for the title-deciding round and threw every punch she had been asked to and out-boxed her opponent from the start to the final bell.

Coaches John O’Connell, Barry Walsh and John Coffey couldn’t be happier with her performance as she clinched her second title in three years and brought honour and glory to her club and community.

Katelyn’s club-mate, Danielle O’Neill, boxing in the ‘Y2’ 50kg category, won her semi-final impressively in Dublin as she stopped her Ulster opponent in the third round. In her final she came up against a very good boxer from Baldoyle, Dublin. Danielle boxed very well for the full three rounds and her All-Ireland silver medal was earned the hard way.