Amateur boxing: Liffey Crane 2020 Irish Elite Championships
KURT Walker may be the undisputed Irish bantamweight king, but some of the pretenders to that throne will have the opportunity to strut their stuff at the National Stadium tonight.
The most eye-catching 57kg fight is the meeting of up-and-coming pair JP Hale and Dean Clancy. The all-action Hale rose to prominence earlier this year after a couple of wars with fellow Belfast bantam Colm Murphy.
And in Clancy, who only turned 18 last month, he will be coming up against another hot prospect.
A two-time European underage silver medallist and Youth Olympian, the Sligo native doesn’t lack for experience or self-belief. An intriguing battle awaits.
There is further Ulster interest at 57kg tonight too, with Monkstown’s Connor Kerr taking on Limerick’s Thomas Casey in the quarter-final, while Emerald’s Kane Marshall goes up against Enniskerry’s Sean Purcell.
Also in action tonight is Immaculata fly Caitlin Fryers, who takes on the tough Niamh Earley. Should Fryers win it would set up a rematch of her Ulster Elite final against Carly McNaul on Wednesday – although Earley also has a score to settle with the east Belfast woman.
McNaul came up trumps after a bruising encounter with the Ryston fighter in February’s 51kg Irish final, and the Commonwealth Games silver medallist will eagerly await the outcome.
At super-heavyweight, meanwhile, Holy Trinity’s Stephen McMonagle bids to get back to winning ways after being drawn against Thomas Carty (Crumlin) at the 91+kg quarter-final stage.
With defending champion Dean Gardiner still sidelined through injury, this is a chance for the rest of the chasing pack to stake a claim.
But McMonagle, who hasn’t fought since losing out to Rathkeale’s Martin Keenan at the quarter-final stage of February’s Irish Elites, is looking no further than his opening bout.
“The way I look at it, it’s a very open competition, there shouldn’t be a lot between most of the boys in it,” said the Letterkenny man, who represented Team NI at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia.
“I just want to put in a good performance and get through this first fight, that’s all I’m worry about. I’ve never actually fought Thomas Carty but I’ve seen him plenty - he’s a tall southpaw so it’ll be a tough fight.
“He’s got a lot of experience so he’s pretty good, but hopefully I’ll be able to get the better of him.”
One downside where the heavier weights are concerned is the difficulty tying down sparring partners, especially in the north.
“It’s a good while since I had a fight,” added McMonagle, who works as an analytical chemist.
“I did a bit of sparring up at the international camp in Jordanstown around June and that was decent enough, but there’s not a whole lot of boys about. You’d probably have to go travelling to get the spars but it’s hard when you’re working.
“If you were down in Dublin you’d probably have a few more options but I can’t really do that with everything else going on. You’d be wrecked going all over the place.”
Kenny Okungbowa, who took the heavyweight crown earlier this year, moves up and begins his campaign against Ciaran Griffin of Celtic Eagles. However, the man he beat in the 91kg final, Tony Browne, has moved down to light-heavyweight where he takes on Peter Nosic.
Tonight’s schedule
Quarter-finals (6pm)
48kg: C Coughlan (Monkstown, Dublin) v S Sweeney (St Anne’s)
48kg: C Walsh (Smithfield) v C Daly (Crumlin)
51kg: C Fryers (Immaculata) v N Early (Ryston)
57kg: P Adamus (Drimnagh) v C Cekiso (Portlaoise)/C Murphy (St George’s)
57kg: T Casey (St Francis) v C Kerr (Monkstown, Antrim)
57kg: K Marshall (Emerald) v S Purcell (Enniskerry)
57kg: JP Hale (Star) v D Clancy (Sean McDermott’s)
69kg: K Molloy (Oughterard) v T McEntee (DCU)/A Walsh (Monkstown, Antrim)
69kg: M Kinsella (St Anthony’s/Pat’s) v R O’Rourke (St Michael’s, Dublin)
69kg: C Walsh (Riverstown) v L Maguire (Esker)
69kg: F Redmond (Arklow)/M Bustard (Dockers) v E McKeever (Holy Family Drogheda)
81kg: T O’Toole (Celtic Eagles) v B Kennedy (St Mary’s, Daingean)/M Frane (Clonard, Wexford)
81kg: P Nosic (Brian Dillon’s) v A Browne (St Michael’s, Dublin)
81kg: T Hyde (St Michael’s, Athy) v S Crowley (Arklow)/P McCullagh (St John Bosco)
81kg: K Tucker (Emerald Antrim)/D Biscevis (St Saviour’s) v E Brennan (Dublin Docklands)
91+kg: M Keenan (Rathkeale) v J Clarke (Crumlin)/M Corcoran (Olympic)
91+kg: A Griffin (Celtic Eagles) v M Mongan (Corpus Christi)
91+kg: T Carthy (Crumlin) v S McMonagle (Holy Trinity)
91+kg: C Griffin (Celtic Eagles) v K Okungbowa (Athlone)
