Four chasing national boxing honours

THE concluding stages of the National Youths Boxing Championships promise an abundance of top-class action in the national stadium this weekend.
Over 200 boxers from the four corners of Ireland have weighed in and contested the preliminaries and semi-finals over the past couple of weekends.
Four Clare boxers, two boys and two girls, will be in action in the finals in search of glory and boxing followers are hopeful that at least one or two will bring home honours.
Lee Sherlock from the Ennis club will go in search of the boy 4, 48kg title, having come through his semi-final in style on Saturday, when he boxed with great skill and speed to outpoint David Nevin from the St David’s club in Dublin.
Sherlock has been showing good form all year and remains unbeaten to date, inspite of a hand injury. He had to battle all the way to the final bell against Nevin but he gained supremacy in the final moments of the bout, with a southpaw right-left combination.
Sherlock, an all-round sports fanatic, loves his boxing and will battle vigorously for that elusive title. He meets Hughie Nevin from the Cavan club in what promises to be a battle royal this Friday night.
Lee’s clubmate and sometimes sparmate Antoinette Keane will do battle for the 63kg junior ladies championship after comprehensively beating Sarah Barrett last Saturday. Antoinette hails from Kilmurry, Sixmilebridge and her dad, John, takes her to training up to three nights a week in Ennis. This commitment paid off with a smashing 9-1 semi-final win
Kilfenora’s Kayleigh McCormack also looked impressive in her semi-final when she beat Megan O’Donnell from Dungloe in Donegal on a 7-0 scoreline. She is a superb prospect, having gained her place in the national squad last year. She belies her tender age of 15 with powerful punching and blinding speed and she is strongly fancied to capture honours this week.
The Kilfenora club continues to produce barnstorming battlers and Paddy O’Connor, who weights in at 91kg, will seek to emulate the feats of James Clancy, who won glory under Ollie Markham in the early ’90s.
Clancy won the 91kg title with a string of knockouts and O’Connor, although short on sparring and experience, is likely to be very difficult to beat. Coach John McCormack has high hopes for his charges and says that Kayleigh’s training and sparring with the national squad in Dublin each weekend has helped her immensely.
West Clare’s Wayne Danagher in the 66kg youth 2 division sustained a back injury in his semi-final battle with Dubliner Tom Quinn and was unable to continue.