Malanaphy lands Ulster Senior title with brilliant display
THE Erne Boxing Club had an extremely busy week with boxers competing at the Ulster Senior and Ulster Novice Championships in Belfast last week, as well as, nine in action at their first home tournament of the season in Enniskillen last Saturday evening.
The highlight of the week was three excellent performances in three consecutive days by Anthony Malanaphy to see him win the Ulster Senior Light-welterweight title at 63.5kgs.
Last Tuesday evening the Erne outfit had three boxers in action at the Dockers Club in Belfast. Cameron Suttle on the opposite side of the draw was pitted against Lisburn’s Jordy Green (Canal Boxing Club) in Senior 63.5kgs Quarter-final.
Suttle, showing much improvement, boxed smartly and dug in deep when he needed to but was too often beaten to the punch and fairly lost a unanimous points decision, but to make matters worse an accidental clash of heads left him with a nasty cut over the eye (that later needed six stitches).
In the opposing quarter-final Anthony Malanaphy opened his campaign with a second-round stoppage victory over Belfast’s Nathan Richmond (Clonard Boxing Club). The opening round was very close, but in round two great combination punching from Malanaphy forced his opponent to take two standing counts and the contest was rightly halted.
On the same evening, Neil Walmsley made his ring debut in the Novice Championships at Heavyweight (91kgs) and faced Newry’s more experienced Jack Carter (Sacred Heart Boxing Club) in the semi-finals.
Walmsley pressed the action throughout, but Carter fought cagily and landed with good shots in bursts. In the third round, Walmsley had Carter in trouble but the bell came to his rescue and the contest went to the scorecards. Agonisingly the decision was split 3-2 in favour of Carter but there were no complaints as it was a very close and competitive match.
On Wednesday evening, Anthony Malanaphy was back in action against Derry’s Johnny Casey (St Joseph’s Boxing Club) in the Semi-final contest. Malanaphy was slightly lethargic having boxed the night before and the previous weekend in Denmark but still did enough to win clearly. Malanaphy controlled the contest at range and despite trading punches needlessly at times, he outscored his opponent to register a unanimous points win.
On Thursday evening, the Erne Boxing Club had two boxers in action on finals day. Lana Kelly made her ring debut in the Female 63kgs Novice Final against Belfast’s Abbie Regan (City of Belfast Boxing Academy).
Regan was very strong and started aggressively and notably caught Kelly with right-hooks to the body, but the Erne favourite rallied and scored with some nice jabs and backhands. Despite a strong finish from Kelly, it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit as a unanimous decision deservedly went in favour of Regan.
Later on, Anthony Malanaphy turned avenger as he boxed brilliantly in all three rounds, picking off Jordy Green (Canal Boxing Club) with sharp jabs and back hand counters and then using great foot and body movement to avoid Green’s attacks.
After three excellent rounds of smart boxing the decision was never in doubt as the unanimous verdict and Ulster Senior title went to Malanaphy.
After the midweek action concluded, the Erne Boxing Club turned its attention to their tournament at the Enniskillen Hotel on Saturday evening. Despite multiple last-minute withdrawal of opponents due to injuries and sickness the tournament went ahead with nine Erne boxers in action supported by some good international contests.
Rhys Owens, only just back from injury, got his 22/23 campaign off to a winning start with a very skilful and crowd-pleasing performance against Dublin’s Scott Hanway (DCU). Owens controlled all three rounds and picked his punches well to win a unanimous decision and later collect the Best Boxer Award.
Amy Nolan was equally impressive for the home side, matched against last year’s Irish finalist Caprice Coley (Clonard Boxing Club) a tough night was expected. But Nolan, in great form, controlled the contest from the start and after giving her opponent two standing counts the contest was halted in her favour in round three.
Despite the result, one of the highlights of the evening was the competitive return to the ring for Colm Mcelhill following a seven-year hiatus. Mcelhill had a tough match against Dublin’s Robert Maddy (DCU) and he was out-fought for two rounds but a barnstorming finish from Mcelhill had Maddy in trouble and the crowd on its feet. But the Dubliner hung on and claimed a unanimous points win but with Mcelhill leaving the ring with all the accolades from the crowd.
Earlier in the evening, Oisin Gilheaney had a war of attrition with Sean Gray (Clonard Boxing Club) in a contest that continuously went back and forth throughout. Midway through the highly entertaining contest Gilheaney had a point deducted by the referee for use of the shoulder and that may have swayed matters as the unanimous decision went in favour of Gray.
Also in action in entertaining exhibition matches were Erne Boxing Club’s Ciaran Cassidy,
Callum Lunney, Caoilfhionn Crowley, Lana Kelly and Pauric Kelly.
“It has been some week for the club with the highlight being Anthony Malanaphy winning the Ulster Senior title. He boxed superbly and was a class act and he did me and the club very proud. He’s a very talented lad and has the capability to achieve much more.
“The coaching team and myself were also equally delighted with all the performances of our boxers this week. Rhys Owens performed exceptionally well despite only being back in the gym a few weeks after being out with a bad collarbone injury, Amy Nolan had a statement victory and all the boxers who lost this week did so with credibility and gave a great account of themselves. We have an exciting year ahead and much to look forward to,” said Sean Crowley, Erne Boxing Club Head Coach.