Sliabh Luachra Boxing Club (SLBC) members made names for themselves and their club recently when they fought their way through county and provincial championships and qualified to fight in the Irish finals in the National Stadium in Dublin
Patrick McCarthy, (Boy 1 33kg.) won the county and Munster championships. Unfortunately Patrick was unlucky to be best in a quarter final in the nationals and he was beaten by the eventual title winner.
Shauna Riordan, (Girl5 63kg.) also won her county and Munster championship and she got through a tough semi-final on a 5-0 score.
Unfortunately Shauna came up short in the final to lose to a 3/2 split decision. However, Shauna has learned how close she was to getting the overall win and has already started her training for the cadets.
Mary McDonagh, (Girl 4 75kg.) emerged from the Munster qualifiers as champion to make her way to Dublin for the nationals and very tough level competition.
Mary took just 30 seconds to stop her opponent giving her coaches loads of time to see what they need to work on with her.
Leah Sheehan, (Girl3 66kg.) Picked up county and Munster titles on her way to the National Stadium where she did the business and collected a national title on a 3-2 decision.
Jamesie Casey, (Boy3 44.5kg.) is another of the young SLBC lords of the ring and he got a walk-over in the Kerry championships last February.
Jamesie went into the Munster finals with a semi-final win and won on a 5-0 unanimous decision against the Cork champion. This significant win paved the way for the Irish championship where Jamesie went into a quarter-final against the Connaught champion and also won this on a 5-0 decision.
At the semi-final stage Jamesie fought the Dublin champion and again won on a 5-0 unanimous decision. This guaranteed him a place in the national final against the reigning Irish champion and this year’s Leinster champion Christian Doyle – who beat Jamesie last December in the national championships on a 4-1 decision.
Jamesie trained hard since and really dedicated himself completely to boxing and came back to beat Doyle with a brilliant performance and winning on an exact reversal of the December decision.
Michelle McDonagh, (Girl 2 59kg.) Became county champion and moved on to the Munsters where she had a straight final again a the Cork champion and it was Michelle who emerged as the Munster champion on a unanimous decision.
Michelle then went forward to the nationals and tough semi-final bout before progressing to the final.
There, Michelle really needed to change her game plan and with a little time the night before her coaching team from the club made a game plan and Michelle executed it to a t and took victory with a unanimous decision to become national champion 2022.
Praise for Boxers and Coaches
A club spokesperson was full of praise for all the Sliabh Luachra Boxing Club members, both boxers and coaches / mentors.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the club coaches for putting in the hours for training and sparring and being there every week throughout the long season.”
The spokesperson singled out Jennifer O’Sullivan-Coffey and her husband and club chairman, John Coffey with Jake Kelly and Mikey Broderick as being the backbone of the club and without whom all the activity and remarkable achievements mentioned above would simply not be possible.
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