Seventeen Mayo boxers participated in the preliminary rounds and semi final stage of the boy four, youth one, and youth two National championships in the home of Irish boxing last weekend.
It took two extremely long days of boxing to clear the 70 contests on the programmes each day (Friday and Saturday ).
In boy four (39kg ) Terrence Lawrence (Ballina ) went out of the championships on a score of 9-2 against Conor Dempsey (Immaculata ). Gavin Roche (Castlebar ) in boy four (46kg ) got the Mayo selection on to winning ways with a good performance defeating his opponent Andrew Mc Donagh (St Paul’s, Waterford ) on a score of 15-11. In boy four (54kg ) Michael Collins (St Anne’s ) was defeated by Oran Keddle (St Broughan’s ) ) on a scorecard of 3-7. Matthew Davis (Ardagh/Crossmolina ) qualified for the finals of the boy four (57kg ) division, defeating Sean Doran (St Mary’s, Dublin ) 13-5 in the preliminaries on Friday afternoon and boxed extremely well against Alan White (Sacred Heart, Newry ) in a much closer contest winning by 10-9 on Saturday night. That bout could well have been Davis’s final and another title could be on the horizon for the talented Mayo boxer.
Colm Quinn (Castlebar ) stepped into the ring in the boy four (63kg ) division, not in the best of health, and did not perform to his full potential, losing on a score of 6-13 to Brett Mc Ginty (Oakleaf Club ). Jamie Conroy (Ballina ) wasted no time in disposing of Mark Lavery, (Antrim ) inside two rounds in the youth one (48kg ) class and a cracking semifinal against his friend, and another multinational title holder Frankie Cleary this afternoon (Friday, March 29 ) is now on the programme. Matthew Shevlin (Golden Gloves ) was another Mayo boxer who did not perform to his full potential in his bout in the youth one (54kg ) class. Shevlin ended round one on level terms with Patrick Doherty (Brian Dillon’s ) on a score of 1-1 but the Mayo boxer was caught with some clean blows to the head in round three, and after taking two standing counts the bout was stopped by the referee. Patrick Famulski (St Anne’s ) was the first Mayo youth boxer into the ring, and things did not go his way losing 4-11 to Gary Maughan (Cavan ). Stephen Barrett (Castlebar ) went out of the championships on a score of 6-16 in the youth one (60kg ) division and Ballinrobe boxer Damien Joyce was extremely unlucky not to advance any further, losing by the smallest of margins to Richard O’Leary (Mulhuddart ) 10-11.
Keith Hopkins (Ardagh/Crossmolina ) was outstanding in his bout in the youth two (75kg ) division against Dean Murphy (Ryston ). Hopkins looked confident and strong throughout the three rounds, catching Murphy with combination blows to the head in round three and the referee stopped the bout after the second standing count. Valentine Regan (Ballyhaunis ) was stopped in round one of the youth two (86kg ) division. This morning (Friday, March 29 ) the semi-finals of the youth one commences and the youth two semi-finals in the afternoon will make the way clear for a full day of finals on Saturday next.
