Clare boxers weave some Munster magic

TEN Clare boxers travelled to Mitchelstown last Saturday and Sunday with hopes of annexing at least four titles from the Munster juvenile championships, which were held over the two days, and were delighted with a 50% success rate.
Ennis mentors, Tommy Lyons, Sean Carrig and Danny Fitzpatrick and Kilfenora stalwart, Pat McCormack were pleased with the individual and collective performances of the champions, Keelan Sexton, Conor Doyle, Brian McDonagh and Tara Dowling from the Ennis club and Shannon Murrihy from Kilfenora. There was success also for Paddy Donovan, who boxes out of the OLOL club in Limerick but does his sparring in the Ennis club.
There was disappointment for hot favourite, Mike McDonagh from Ennis, whose star shone brighter through last year when he remained unbeaten in 12 contests. Kilfenora brothers, Gary and Darren Ruane also produced the performances of their lives to reach the semi-finals and final respectively and Darren, in particular, embellished his reputation with a quarter-final victory, before being edged out by Andrew Crean from Tralee in the semi-final.
However, it was boxer of the year, Keelan Sexton in the 70kg Boy 3 division who produced the fireworks with an emphatic knock-out victory in the final against James Coleman from Bantry.
The former West Clare fighter, who now boxes out of the Ennis club, was forceful and accurate in the first round, dropping Coleman with a body shot to lead 10-1 at the break, before unleashing a pinpoint left hook to the Cork boxer’s chin for a KO after 20 seconds of the second round. Keelan will now travel with his team mates, seeking a hat-trick of Irish titles in the Irish championships, which will get under way on Easter Monday.
Brian McDonagh was making his second attempt to wrest the 54kg Boy 2 title, having lost out to John Keenan from the Glen club in Cork in last year’s final and he accomplished with aplomb in Sunday’s final, beating Robert Boland (Clonmel) with a third-round stoppage, having led 12-1 going into the final round.
McDonagh punched with speed and accuracy against Boland and the referee’s intercession in the end was scarcely surprising, as the Ennis boxer was completely on top.
The demise of Mike McDonagh was the only blip on the weekend for the Ennis squad and it came only moments after the celebrations of the tremendous win by his clubmate, Conor Doyle in the 44kg Boy 1 final against the hotly fancied Tommy Hyde from the Watergrasshill stable in Cork. Hyde is the son of Gary Hyde, who promotes and manages the Cuban contingent, one of whom beat Willie ‘Big Bang’ Casey in the world bantamweight title bout some weeks ago and young Hyde was earmarked for success. Doyle spoiled the party, however, boxing cleverly and accurately for a 3-2 victory.
Mike McDonagh’s conqueror was Tiernan Ball from the Trojan club in Kerry, whose awkward long range jabs proved frustrating for the Ennis southpaw and forced him into occasional errors, which were to prove crucial as the bout progressed. It was 2-1 at the finish for the Kerry fighter, which gives him the opportunity of adding a national title to his unexpected provincial prize.
Diarmuid O’Gorman and Jamie Keane from the Ennis club both reached the semi-finals in the 39kg and 50kg divisions but found the going formidable in their respective finals against M McCarty and double Irish champion, Daniel Keating respectively.