Second successive national title for Doyle

Three Ennis boxers made it to the semi-final stages of the National schoolboys championships in the National Stadium in Dublin last weekend and while hopes were high in the Clare camp for a hat trick of titles only 54kg defending champion Conor Doyle brought home the gold medal.
57kg contender Michael McDonagh lost out in his semi-final on Friday to Colm Quinn from Castlebar in an enthralling all-southpaw battle and Brian McDonagh, who captured gold last year, lost out to Leinster champion Cathal Vint in a battle of fluctuating fortunes. Vint was to win handsomely in the final on Saturday.
It was left to Conor Doyle to garner some semblance of balance to the Ennis colours and he succeeded with aplomb in a seething final battle with Adrian McDonagh from the Olympic club in Galway. Doyle, a first-year pupil in St Flannans College, beat Ulster champion Paul McCullough from the Holy Family Club in Belfast 9-1 in the semi-finals and was never headed in his final with Southpaw McDonagh. The scores stood at 1-1 after a tense first round and Doyle got home with some accurate right-handers to lead 3-2 after the second, before closing out the Olympic fighter’s challenge in the final round for a tenuous 6-5 victory.
It was a victory that delighted coaches Tommy Lyons and Sean Carrig and a triumph over adversity for young Doyle, because he had contracted a virus in the week leading up to the championships and was unable to train or spar in that time. His dad David admitted that he was fearful the youngster might not make it to the scales on Tuesday but he improved as the week progressed and the win made it back-to-back titles for the 13-year-old.
Doyle will take a week off training to regain some energy before he goes in search of the Elite Cadets Championship next month.
There was a big surprise in the championships for Paddy O’Donovan who boxes out of the OLOL club in Limerick and hails from Ennis. He had been a pre-championship favourite for the 39kg boy 2 title, but was beaten on a disqualification in his semi-final by Ulster Champ Evan Sweeney from the Illies-Golden Gloves Club in Donegal.
His brother Edward, however, banished some of the blues for the O’Donovan family with a good victory over Tyler McMullan for the 36kg title.
Diminutive Martin O’Doherty boxing out of the Ennis club made his debut in the National Stadium on Wednesday but was beaten in the quarter-finals of his 42kg division.
The Ladies Boxing Championships will bring the boxing season to a close next week when they get under way in Dublin. Clare will have a good representation for the championships with reigning champions Sally Carrig from the Ennis club and Kayleigh McCormack from Kilfenora weighing in once again, while Antoinette Keane and Tara Dowling from Ennis and cousins Caoilinn and Shannon McCormack will make up the bulk of the assault.
A boxing team from Newry and Mourne will make the journey south with the twinning groups who visit Ennis on May 26 and 27 and arrangements are already in progress to stage a boxing tournament in tandem with GAA matches for the occasion to bring down the curtain on the Ennis club’s season.