Irish coach blasts ref as Cully loses out

BOXING: Johnny Joyce and Wayne Kelly will be aiming to get Ireland back to winning ways at the 105-nation AIBA World Youth Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria today.

Team Ireland lost three in-a-row yesterday with European Youth and EU champions Gary Cully and Kristina O’Hara and Tiernan Bradley all going out.

Cully controversially lost to Ukrainian bantam Voldymyr Fedora on a split decision, a verdict which Irish coach Billy McClean described as shocking.

“Gary Cully is a very talented young boxer and it is heartbreaking to see him lose like this. It was a dreadful decision, absolutely shocking,” he said.

Bradley dominated the last round of his clash and had Liam Wilson in all sorts of trouble, but the Aussie lightweight was handed a unanimous decision.

Earlier yesterday, O’Hara lost on a split decision to Great Britain’s Crystal Barker (England) in the women’s flyweight class.

The World Youths are acting as the only qualifier for August’s Youth Olympics in China.