Olympics the target as Sutherland wins thriller
The Stadium lacked the atmosphere of the senior championship finals when Sutherland won 21-15, but the small crowd was treated to another thriller as O’Neill — coming off injury — stood toe to toe with his opponent for most of the contest.
The former Kilkenny hurler spent two weeks on crutches with a foot injury since the seniors and, though he won a gold medal in a multi-nations tournament in Zagreb, his preparations had been disrupted.
Flicking out his southpaw jab and landing some good hooks to the body, he had Sutherland chasing the points throughout the first two rounds. They were tied 2-2 after the first round and 4-4 after the second ended in an exciting punch-up.
O’Neill fell to the canvas in the third from a low blow which cost Sutherland two points when referee Larry Durand gave him a public warning.
However, Sutherland won the round 5-3 despite the deduction and took the last 6-1.
“My tactics were different tonight,” he said. “I was not going to do the same as I did in the seniors. I was not going to punch until I was within distance. Once or twice I missed with the left hook, but you can’t land everything. I was very selective with my shots. This was my type of fight. Darren played into my hands quicker than I thought. He did not run too much. He tried to land and then move, but I just kept my composure. That’s the way I like to fight, hands nice and high, getting in close — sometimes it is not good for the computer scoring systems, but I land hard shots and they tend to wear guys down.”
O’Neill admitted to being ultra-conservative as result of his lack of preparation. “I did not have even two full weeks of training. I had to conserve my energy, so it was always going to be a different fight to the seniors. Darren came forward with his tight guard and, even though I was landing body shots to the side they were not scoring. The lack of training and the injuries made a huge difference in the last round. Fair play to Darren he did what he had to do.
As regards the low blow he admitted: “I went down and I could have stayed down and maybe he would have been disqualified, but that’s not my style.”
For light heavyweight Kenneth Egan (Neilstown), it was business as usual and he was leading 9-0 when Michael Mullaney (Claremorris) quit at the start of the third round.
David Oliver Joyce (St Michael’s Athy) had to come from behind in the featherweight final with Carl Frampton (Midland White City). He was three points down at the end of the first round and 6-1 down a minute into the second before putting a storming finish to win the round 3-2. He won the last 11-1 for a 23-10 victory.
“For the first two minutes of the fight I felt really weak — I was wrecked, my arms were not working at all — maybe that was because we have had a hard few weeks and getting back here was always going to be difficult,” Joyce said. “But once I put the pressure on him I knew he was not going to be able to take it for four rounds.”
After missing the senior championships with a viral infection, flyweight Conor Ahern (Baldoyle) rekindled his Olympic dream with a third round victory over Ruairi Dalton (St John’s ABC).
However, the 17-year-old Belfast boy, who gave him a lesson in boxing in the first round which he won 12-4, left Ahern with a mountain to climb.
The Dubliner came storming forward to win the second round 16-2 and was coasting when Dalton’s trainer, Frank McCourt, threw in the towel in the third.
The two Sheahan brothers from the St Michael’s club in Athy could be on the flight to the qualifiers in Athens in a fortnight: heavyweight Tommy reversed the result of the national championships final with an 8-6 win over young Con Sheehan (Clonmel), while Roy, the national senior welterweight champion, who is recovering from a broken hand, will get a box-off with Donegal’s Willie McLoughlin (Illie GG), if given the all-clear. McLoughlin had a surprise 9-8 win over John Joe McDonagh (Brosna ABC) on Saturday night when public warnings in the third and fourth rounds cost the Mullingar man four points and then McLoughlin scored with the last punch of the contest to win.
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