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Surprise defeat for McDonagh twins


Antoinette Keane, Lee Sherlock, Sally Carrig, Kayleigh McCormack, Martin Keenan and Caoilinn McCormack, winners of Munster titles who are through to the All-Ireland Championships. Photograph by Declan Monaghan

WITH hopes abounding of a sizeable yield of titles, all of the 15 Clare boxers travelled to the Munster Youths Championships in Cork last weekend with an added incentive of a ticket to the national championships for the winners. However, there was much disappointment for the boxers from the Kilfenora and Ennis clubs and while five were victorious, many of the pre-championship bankers failed to live up to their promise.
Twin brothers John and Simon McDonagh from the Ennis club have been unbeaten so far this season but both succumbed in their respective finals on Sunday. John went down 5-3 to the superb Aaron Ronan from the Glen Boxing Club in Cork, while Simon’s power and aggression could not counteract the accuracy and craft of reigning champion Michael McDonnell from St Paul’s in Waterford. He lost out on an emphatic 11-5 scoreline.
Wayne Danaher, who hails from Lisdoonvarna and boxes out of the Ennis club, missed out narrowly in a pulsating 70kg final against Cork’s James McDonagh from the Loughmahon club. Danaher had all the right moves and precision left and right combinations to outpoint Sean O’Mahony from Leeside Lough in Cork in the semi-final on Saturday and was fancied to go one better against the all-action McDonagh in Sunday’s final.
He flattered to deceive though and found himself 5-1 down after a lethargic first round and while he upped the ante in the second, he could not connect with his favourite right cross and was still 6-4 in arrears.
Danaher nailed the Cork fighter with some great rights in the third and final round and the score of 8-8 at the final bell brought the dreaded countback of 19-17 in the Cork boxer’s favour.
One bright note of consolation however, came in the wake of the epic final, when Danaher, who travels to Ennis three times a week for training, was given a wild card for the nationals and he will weigh in on Friday next with his fellow county aspirants and might well take a national title in the process.
There was some compensation when the ladies came up trumps, with 63kg Sally Carrig and 66kg Antoinette Keane winning their respective divisions.
A magnificent Caoilinn McCormack captured the Girl 4. 52kg title in style, beating former Irish champion Nora Doyle (Clonmel) 9-4 in her final.
Youth 1 Lee Sherlock battled the scales and the odds to take the 52kg title and advances to the Irish championships with clubmate Martin Keenan, who took the 85kg title in his first attempt.
All of the five winners, together with reigning Irish champion Kayleigh McCormack (Kilfenora) will travel to the National Stadium in Dublin on Friday for the preliminaries of the Irish championships.

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