Ennis takes narrow home victory

Ennis boxers have been busy over the last month with tournaments against selections from Galway, Mayo, Naas and Limerick.

In their first home match last Saturday, they clung to a tenuous one-match lead going into the final three contests eeking out a creditable draw in the end against a strong Westport selection.
The Ennis side were without three of their better boxers on the evening but the Lomax brothers, Shane and Darragh, together with Cathal Darcy, Ross McCarthy and Mike McDonagh turned in fine performances for the home side. Young Luke Carmody also proved a star turn on the evening in his first home battle against Conor Doyle.
Hurler-cum-boxer Séamie Nugent had his initial battle with the scales and came off second best as he failed to make the stipulated 44kg deadline and had to move up to the 48kg class where he met a Tartar in national champion, Francis McDonagh.
Nugent was to battle valiantly in the first and second rounds coming in under the champ’s laser-like left jab to score occasionally but the Westport boxer’s accuracy and power ultimately won him the unanimous approval of the judges after Nugent was forced to take a standing count in the dying seconds of this rather one-sided contest.
Séamie’s fellow hurling team-mate, Ross McCarthy, who endured a miserable season last year with injury and illness inhibiting his ambitions, has been showing good form this season and he boxed well to outpoint Connacht champion Cathal Staunton in a smashing contest.
McCarthy used the ring well and his powerful left jab was a constant irritant for the Mayo boxer as the Ennis fighter swept to a unanimous decision.
It has recently been announced in amateur boxing that the computer scoring in championships has been dispensed with and manual scoring will replace this, much to the bemusement of clubs and bodies who had installed the computers at considerable expense.
All of the current crop of boxers at provincial and national level were conditioned and coached for computer boxing and the mindset, physically and psychologically will now be totally revamped in the coming months.
Brothers Shane and Darragh Lomax both won their respective battles in the 42kg and 60kg divisions over Martin Collins and James Daly.
Darragh put the Ennis side in front in the penultimate match as be powered over the outclassed Daly and nailed him with solid right-hooks in all three rounds. Shane embellished the lead with a subtle if emphatic performance against Westport’s Collins.
Wayne Danagher renewed rivalry with his old adversary, Jason McDonagh (St Ann’s), in what proved to be the best contest of the evening.
The pair met in Westport last month and brought the house down with a powerful battle in the 66kg headliner and this one, far from being a classic, kept the crowd on the edge of their seats all through with the Westport fighter gaining the nod by a majority decision. Danagher had controlled matters in the first with accurate left jabs to the head but tired a little in the final round, allowing his man to get back into the fight and ultimately grab the victory.
The Ennis squad will travel to Rathkeale this Sunday to take on a Limerick selection, and will host a Galway selection in Ennis the following weekend.