Slick Sutherland turns on the power

DARREN SUTHERLAND (St. Saviours OBA) added the national senior title to his CV with a power-packed performance that overwhelmed Edward Healy (Portlaoise) in the third round of their middleweight final at the finals of the National senior championships last night.

It was a performance that had everything. He got his jab working early on and put some delightful combinations together.

Sutherland built up a 19-2 lead and, seconds into the third round, the contest was stopped on the 20 point rule.

Kenneth Egan won his sixth consecutive national senior title - his fourth at light heavyweight with a 21-12 victory over Darren O’Neill (Paulstown).

The Kilkenny school teacher, who has been shadowing Egan for the past couple of seasons, found himself tied at 3-3 at the end of the first round but built up 7-2 after round two.

O’Neill came forward to score with some solid punches at the start of the third but midway through it became evident that Egan’s big punches were beginning to wear him down. The champion was now in cruise control and scoring with some big left hooks to the body and led 15-8 going into the final round.

There were a lot of big punches thrown in the fourth and O’Neill forced his man back on the ropes with a two-fisted attack. Egan fought his way clear and got through with big shots to the head and body to seal another impressive performance.

Jimmy Moore (St. Francis) finally claimed his national senior title with a hard earned 12-10 points victory over Paddy Barnes (Holy Family, Belfast).

Moore, who lost to Conor Ahern in the final last year, started slowly as Barnes, who has been selected on the team for the Commonwealth Games, took control of the ring.

The 18-year-old Belfast man, however, was short with his punches and Moore fought back to tie the contest at 3-3 at the end of the first round.

Barnes began to assert his authority in the second round, got through with a couple of good combinations as Moore tried to come forward and won the round 2-1.

It was only in the third that Moore got his jab working and his accurate shots to the head and body began to frustrate Barnes, who went after his man but the round went to Moore 3-1 to leave him with a one point advantage going into the final round.

Now Barnes threw caution to the wind, became untidy and allowed Moore to catch him with enough clean shots to win the round 5-4.

David Oliver Joyce (St. Michael’s, Athy) had far too many combinations in his repertoire for Kevin Fennessy (Clonmel) on his way to a 31-10 victory and a successful defence of his bantamweight title.

The 18-year-old Clonmel man took a standing count and was then given a public warning to add to his woes.

Conor Ahern, light flyweight champion for the previous three years, stepped up a division to claim the flyweight title with a power-packed performance against 19-year-old T. J. Doheny (Portlaoise). Doheny, a former national intermediate champion and twice under-21 champion, was never allowed to get going as Ahern, who boxed for Ireland at last year’s world championships, kept him on the back foot. The Baldoyle man won the first round 5-1, the second 2-1 and stepped up another gear in the third to catch his man with some good combinations. On the back foot throughout the round, Doheny, did not register a single point as Ahern took an 11-2 lead and counter-punched his way throughout the fourth round en route to a 17-5 victory.

Eric Donovan (St. Michael’s, Athy) was even more emphatic as he retained his featherweight title with a 20-6 points victory over Ross Hickey (Grangecon) although that the score did not do justice to the effort put in by his fellow Kildare man.

Donovan was always going to be favourite to win this battle of southpaws and he won the first round 4-1, getting in early with some good shots to the head and body.

But Hickey came back in the second round, and, while the round went to Donovan 4-3, it was clear he had a fight on his hands.

Donovan began to pick his man off with some clean punches again in the third round and he won the round 5-1 but he had to withstand another rally from Hickey in the fourth although the Grangecon man was only given two points on the computer.

Light Flyweight: Jimmy Moore (St. Francis, Limerick) beat Paddy Barnes (Holy Family, Belfast) 12-10.

Flyweight: Conor Ahern (Baldoyle) beat T. J. Doheny (Portlaoise) 17-5.

Bantamweight: David Oliver Joyce (St. Michael’s, Athy) beat Kevin Fennessy (Clonmel) 30-10

Featherweight: Eric Donovan (St. Michael’s, Athy) beat Ross Hickey (Grangecon, Co. Kildare) 20-6.

Middleweight: Darren Sutherland (St. Saviours Olympic Boxing Academy) beat E. Healy (Portlaoise) 20 pt Rule.

Light Heavyweight: Kenneth Egan (Neilstown) beat Darren O’Neill (Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny) 21-12.