Ten national titles for Mayo boxers

Ten titles for Mayo boxers at Irish finals


Daniel Carey

BALLYHAUNIS Boxing Club had a fantastic weekend at the National Stadium, picking up four titles as no fewer than ten crowns came to Mayo.
Ryan Peake was impressive in beating Steven Morris (Gleann) 3-0 to take the Youth 2 57kg title, having seen off Stephen Mulholland (St Malachy’s) 7-4 in the semi-final. Thomas Conroy racked up the biggest winning margin of the championship in beating Nathan Cahill (Paulstown) 11-1 in the 91+kg (super-heavyweight) decider, having earlier stopped Stephen Connolly (Lisnafin) in round one of the semi-final.
There were two other Ballyhaunis successes, as Michael Maughan beat Dom Sarsfield (St Francis) 3-2 in the Boy 4 36kg final, while Elaine Daly had a walkover in the Youth 1 63kg category.
Talented Anthony Coyle (Geesala) beat George Boylan (Smithfield) 3-0 in the Youth 2 75kg (middleweight) final, following on from his 3-2 victory over Pearse Knocker (Glengormley) in the semi-final. Coyle’s club-mate Louise Donohue had a walkover in the 57kg category, while Swinford’s Aoife Hennigan also had a walkover at 70kg.
Owen Maughan brought a first ever national title to Killasser with a 6-5 win over Cathal Gallagher (Omagh) in the Youth 1 86kg final. Gary Sweeney brought more success to All Stars following a third-round stoppage against Patrick McDonagh (Dealgan) in the Youth 2 86kg final, while Shane McIntyre (Golden Gloves) edged out Gerard McCorley (Toome) in the Youth 1 66kg decider.
Ardnaree’s Rebecca Cawley lost 4-3 to Daria Lach (Cavan) in the 54kg Youth 2 final. Ballinrobe’s Tara Heneghan lost to Tamilee Diver (Morne GG) in round two of the Girl 4 46kg final, while her club-mate Saoirse Delargy was stopped inside the distance by Christine Desmond (Macroom) in the 66 category.
Benjamin Garrett (Castlebar) was beaten 3-1 by Cavan’s Hughie Nevin (cousin of 2008 Irish Olympian John Joe Nevin) in the Youth 1 52kg (flyweight) final, while Martin Conroy (Ballyhaunis) lost 3-2 to Bernard Ward (Letterkenny) in the Youth 1 75kg final.
Thomas McDonagh (St Anne’s) beat Christopher Cullen (Cavan) 5-0 in the Boy 4 80kg final before losing 2-0 to James Mullaney (Paulstown) in the final. Brian Mullen (St Anne’s) went down 10-2 to Bernard O’Reilly (Portlaoise) after winning a dramatic Youth 2 80kg semi-final, beating John Joe McDonagh (Crumlin) 10-8 on a count-back after it initially finished 4-4. Katie Hyland (St Anne’s) lost 2-1 Antoinette Keane (Ennis) in her 63kg semi-final.
Catherine Doherty (Ardnaree), Kevin Moran (Ballyhaunis), Karen Chambers (Castlebar) and Jessie Gallagher (Ballina) and Rachel Lally (Golden Gloves) all exited at the semi-final stage.