Revenge as Wicklow see off Wexford in boxing clash
WICKLOW boxers came out on top on Sunday when they took on Wexford in their annual inter-county boxing tournament in Sacre Coeur Boxing Club in Enniscorthy.
This event was for the very prestigious Paddy O’Leary Memorial Shield. Paddy was a mentor of Enniskerry Boxing Club and County Chairman for many years. And manager of Sunday’s team Mick Byrne was delighted to be presented with the Shield by Wexford officials as Mick and Paddy were great friends and kept Enniskerry Boxing Club going in the early days.
A big crowd witnessed some great contests with the victorious Wicklow team winning six bouts to five, which was a reversal of last year’s result in the Grand Hotel in Wicklow when Wexford won by the same margin.
Wexford got off to a good start on the day, winning the first two bouts. Johnny Connors of Gorey beat Arklow’s Luke Mulhall by a unanimous decision. Mulhall used the ring well but Connors had the longer reach and scored well with his jab.
Arklow’s Lukas Godkin just couldn’t get going in his bout and, despite exchanging combinations with his opponent Shane Reddy of Enniscorthy Boxing Academy, Reddy was always in charge.
Philip Feokrytov, from Arklow Boxing Club, gave a great exhibition of combinations, jabs and big right hands over the top that Tom Cash of Enniscorthy Boxing Club had no answer for with Philip winning unanimously.
Enniskerry Boxing Club’s Cole Byrne defeated Clonard’s Evan Gillan. Gillan was short of the target when attacking Cole who picked him off at will for all three rounds.
In the only girls bout of the day, Rathnew Boxing Club’s Alex Dickenson and Saoirse Kehoe of Rosslare went toe to toe for the whole three rounds, both sussing each other out at times and attacking hard. Dickenson came out on top on a majority decision.
Arklow’s Mickey Moorehouse was unable to handle the continuous attacking of Sacre Coeur’s Nathan Tyrrell. Mickey tried hard to pull it back in the third round but Nathan had done enough in the first two rounds to get a majority decision.
Fionn O’Leary of St Anthonys/ St Pats was always was always on top when beating Sean Byrne of St Teresa’s of Bray. Sean gave it his best shot but O’Leary was too strong and won unanimously.
At the break Wexford were winning 4-3 with four contests to go after the interval. Jake Buckley from Rosslare boxed Michael Treacy of St Teresa’s. Both boxers traded combinations but Treacy was that bit sharper and first to punch in all three rounds. It was still a close affair with Treacy getting the nod of two judges.
Ballagh’s Ryan Cullen and Rathnew’s Adam Sinnott had a ding dong battle.
Cullen had the longer reach and was attacking but was dropping short of the target in round one. Sinnott handled the situation well and come out on top in the second and third round, winning a unanimous decision. Wicklow team captain and Enniskerry Boxing Club boxer Michael Moorehouse took on Aaron O’Connor from Wexford CBS. Moorehouse let O’Connor attack and used his jab and hooks well, picking him off as he came forward.
A majority decision won it for Moorehouse and meant at 6-4 with one contest left, Wicklow were the victors.
Clonard’s Shane Dooley and Wicklow’s Reese Kelly gave a heavy hitting three-minute rounds, both hitting with big lefts and rights to body and head. A great crowd pleaser to end the day.
Good news over the weekend for Arklow boxer Tegan Farrell who has been chosen to box for Leinster in the Golden Girls Championships in Sweden. The Leinster team fly out next Wednesday, January 31.