Amateur boxing: Liffey Crane Hire Irish Elite Championship finals
EXPERIENCED Holy Trinity coach Michael Hawkins has backed Barry McReynolds to bounce back from the disappointment of his Irish Elite final defeat at the hands of the classy Brandon McCarthy last night.
The 20-year-old Belfast man never quite clicked into top gear in a highly-anticipated lightweight final at the National Stadium.
Kilkenny native McCarthy just edged a cat and mouse first round, his flashing jab catching the eye as McReynolds struggled to close the distance, while rounds two and three were similarly close, with the St Michael’s, Athy man doing enough en route to a unanimous decision win.
“He was very sharp, very skilful… it’s just one of those things. We thought we’d every chance but it just didn’t happen,” said Hawkins.
“It’s certainly disappointing, he put 10 solid weeks in there. There wasn’t a whole lot in the rounds but what there was, the other boy was just doing that one or two punches more. You have to get the first round; he didn’t, then you have to get the next two and he didn’t – it’s as simple as that.
“It wasn’t Barry’s best performance at the National Stadium, but he’s just turned 19, he’s still a baby. You’d think he’s been around forever but he’s still a baby, and he’ll be back. The other wee boy has been unbeaten in the stadium, he’s very good.
“Barry could’ve boxed better, he just didn’t for whatever reason, but he’ll come again.”
In the first bout of the night, Dublin’s Sean Mari gained revenge for his recent Irish senior final defeat to Ricky Nesbitt (Holy Family, Drogheda) when he got the nod on a 3-2 split after an entertaining light-fly decider.
It was Nesbitt who started the stronger, countering Mari’s jab beautifully at times and working well to the body when in close, but the Monkstown man came on strong in the second, making his pressure pay, with a cracking left hook the eye-catching shot of the round.
And Mari just did that bit more in the third and final round, a right cross catching Nesbitt flush before a classy uppercut put the Dundalk man on the back foot.
At 64kg, Evelyn Igharo was overcome with emotion after coming out the right side of a tough - at times scrappy - showdown with Geesala’s Ciara Ginty, taking the title on a 3-2 split.
The tall Clann Naofa woman was the aggressor from the off, but was caught on the way in Ginty a couple of times, who was trying to take the sting out of whatever was coming her way before firing back.
And she was boxing well at the start of the second until she was caught with two long Igharo right hands, before an all-action third, the Mayo woman coming out firing as both tired down the straight.
Igharo stood her ground when she needed to, and did enough to edge home in the end, while Rathkeale’s Nell Fox proved too strong for the experienced Leona Houlihan (Crumlin) to land the light-heavyweight crown.
European youth gold medallist Daina Moorehouse impressed on her way to the light-fly title as she swept to a unanimous decision win over Shannon Sweeney.
