Sally’s bid for U-18 title just fails

ENNIS boxer, Sally Carrig failed in her bid to add the national U-18 title to her U-16 crown when she bowed out of  the Irish championships, losing to Ulster champion Austija Auccuite in a smashing final on a 9-7 scoreline last weekend.

The Ennis girl, who had beaten international Aoife Hennigan 13-7 in her semi-final on Saturday afternoon, fought her heart out in Sunday’s final but found the speed and dexterity of the Northerner daunting. It became a battle for survival from the opening bell and full credit to Sally for her never-say-die approach but Auccuite jabbed and moved and never allowed the Ennis girl to land her vaunted right hand shots.

Sally will now concentrate on her studies for the Leaving Cert, which she sits in the coming weeks, and she will then focus her attentions on the U-16 internationals in August.

Kilfenora’s Caoilinn McCormack also made her bid for the U-18s and made it to the semi-finals, losing out to Helen Carty from the Paulstown club in Kilkenny.

Her clubmate, Robbie Cassidy, whose star has been in the ascendancy in recent weeks, lost out in the final of the junior cadet qualifiers, having come through the semi-finals on Saturday over Paul Sutcliffe from the St Saviour’s Club in Dublin with a second-round stoppage.

There was great news for Ennis boxer, Mike McDonagh when he got the call for the 63 Kg spot on the Irish team to box Scotland on Friday and Saturday next in Clones. This international is effectively a warm-up for the European championships due to be held in Dublin in September. The 14-year-old southpaw is a big favourite with local fight fans and he has been twice runner-up for the National championships.

He will be joined in the squad by the Donovan brothers, Edward and Paddy, who box out of the Our Lady of Lourdes club in Limerick but live in Ennis, and started their respective boxing careers in the Ennis club. Paddy is a gritty southpaw and he captured the second of his two Irish titles last month in Dublin. Younger brother Edward is an orthodox 39Kg  with a promising career ahead of him.

Almost all of the country’s boxing clubs will take their annual breaks from June 1 to the end of August. However, many will keep their doors open for their International fighters as they prepare for the upcoming Multi-Nations and Europeans.

Clubs are advised that affiliations and insurance fees will fall due in the middle of June.