Cagey Sheehan wins a cracker

CON SHEEHAN (Clonmel BC),the defending champion, andthe new pretender to the throne, Tommy McCarthy (Oliver Plunkett, Belfast), served up the best performance of an action packed weekend when they met in the quarter finals of the heavyweight division at the Elite national boxing championships at the National Stadium on Saturday night.

The young guns — Sheehan at 21 is seeking his third national senior title while McCarthy, a former world youths bronze medallist, lost the last two light heavyweight finals to Kenneth Egan — set the Stadium alight deep into a long day that saw 36 quarter finals decided.

McCarthy, fighting at heavyweight for the first time, was unlucky to be drawn against the champion, and the fact that the fight was judged in the old style by the five ringside judges after the computer scoring system malfunctioned added an air of intrigue.