ARKLOW BOX CLEVER
Hosts on top against strong Crumlin/Wexford selection
ARKLOW boxers came out on top in their annual tournament held in their gym against a strong Crumlin/ Wexford selection last Saturday night with the final tally reading Arklow 7, Crumlin/Wexford 4.
The first bout of the night was the best clash, with Cian Redmond against Tommy Myers from Sligo. The Sligo boxer started out very strong and looked to dominate Cian but the Arklow boxer finished the round strongly.
In the second round, Cian got on top with solid lefts to the chin to level the fight.
With all to play for, both boxers got stuck in with hard-hitting combinations. In the end the Sligo boxer’s hand was raised by the narrowest of margins by two judges to one.
In the second bout of the evening, Arklow’s Jake Grey defeated Stephen Cartolas of St Ibar’s by a unanimous decision. Jake used his long range to pick off the Wexford boxer in what was the Arklow man’s debut.
Ross Farrell was Arklow’s next winner when he defeated Pat McDonagh of Crumlin on a split decision.
Ross kept the pressure on McDonagh throughout the bout to gain the victory.
Darragh O’Connor was in with a much bigger boxer, Ricky McDonagh from Crumlin. After a slow first round, McDonagh was in front, but in the second round Darragh got back into the bout to level it up going into the last round. However, the Crumlin boxer got on top to gain the decision.
Josh Browne from Arklow put in his best ever performance when outpointing Cian Walsh of St Ibar’s.
Josh won all three rounds, scoring with straight rights to the head and lefts to the body.
Arklow’s Philip Feokrytov was very impressive in outpointing Daniel McDonagh from Crumlin.
The young Arklow boxer won all three rounds. Attacking with good two-handed attacks, Donnacha Murphy from Arklow was very impressive when outpointing Sam Molloy of St Ibar’s.
Donnacha used his long-range punching to keep the Wexford boy at bay to win the contest.
Arklow’s Sean Fleming was very unlucky to lose a split decision against Jack Egan from the St Abban’s club. Sean seemed to pick off the aggressive Egan with straight jabs, but the judges were split two to one in favour of the Wexford boy.
The only girl bout of the evening featured Arklow’s Niamh Molloy who gave a brilliant performance in outpointing Cassie O’Rourke from Sacre Coeur.
Niamh’s long-range punching was a pleasure to watch as she picked off the Enniscorthy boxer in all three rounds.
Kia Davis was extremely unlucky to lose a split decision against Thomas McDonagh from Crumlin. Kia scored with hard hooks, but the judges scored the contest 2 to 1 in favour of the Crumlin boxer.
Fergal Redmond was in complete control against Patrick Cullen from Ballagh. Fergal scored with fast two-handed combinations to win unanimously.
In a special test match, Jamie Doyle from Arklow Boxing Club was in with Paddy Myler from Sligo and James Redmond of Ballybrack and Jamie was impressive with good two-handed attacks.
Josh Whitmore had a brilliant bout with James Cullen with both boxers engaging in a hectic bout.
‘Arklow Boxing Club thank their sponsors of the show and to all our supporters who never let us down. Also, thanks to the Wicklow People who gave us massive coverage all year. Arklow’s younger boxers travel to Gorey on Thursday night for test matches. Last action in the club involves Santa Claus’ visit to the club on Friday night before a well-deserved Christmas break. Happy Christmas everyone,’ said a club spokesperson.