Walsh confident ahead of Olympic qualifiers

Irish head coach Billy Walsh believes that this weeks sparring and training camp with England and France at the National Stadium in Dublin can only augur well for the Olympic qualifiers in Pescara, Italy later this month.

Sat, 09 Feb, 2008 - 15:00

The training camp concluded with a test match against the French at the National Stadium this morning and according to former Irish Olympian Walsh the entire Irish squad gave a good account of themselves against top class opposition.

No official scores were kept at this mornings test match - both countries also met in a test match at the National Stadium last Wednesday evening.

Flyweight Conor Ahern was named as a replacement for Shane Cox yesterday after it was announced that the Wexford man was finding it increasingly difficult to make the 51Kg weight limit.

Ahern was in against former World Champion Jerome Thomas, who won silver and bronze at the last two Olympics, while David Oliver Joyce, John Joe Joyce, Roy Sheahan, Darren Sutherland and Irish captain Ken Egan were also in action this morning.

Cathal McMonagle and Con Sheehan went head-to-head in an exhibition bout and Sean Shevlin clashed with French middleweight Samy Anouche - Sutherland boxed welterweight Jaoid Chigue.

John Joe Nevin and Ross Hickey both sat out the test match.

Walsh said: "Conor produced a great performance against Thomas this morning and we were very pleased with his display and the performances of the rest of the Irish squad.

"It has been a very successful training camp and we got an incredible amount of work done this week and this can only augur well for the Olympic qualifiers in Pescara which are just over two weeks away now."

The Irish squad will now take a well earned rest before reporting back to the National Stadium on Thursday next.

Ireland will travel to Rome for their final training camp on Friday February 15 before departing for Pescara.

Irish Senior Squad:

48Kg: Paddy Barnes (Holy Family)

51Kg: Conor Ahern (Baldoyle)

54Kg: John Joe Nevin (Cavan)

57Kg: David Oliver Joyce (St Michael's Athy)

60Kg: Ross Hickey (Grangecon)

64Kg: John Joe Joyce (St Michael's Athy)

69Kg: Roy Sheahan (St Michael's Athy)

75Kg: Darren Sutherland (St Saviours OBA)

81Kg: Ken Egan (Neilstown)