Thrilling Munster finals in prospect

THE Cork premier boxing leagues take on a new dimension tonight at The Glen Boxing Club where a number of finals held over from the weekend’s Munster intermediate championships in Clonmel will be decided.

Big entries meant that the light heavyweight final, the heavyweight final and light welterweight finals had to be put back and they will now be boxed tonight.

At light welterweight, Ian Walsh (St. Paul’s) will box M. Simmons (Sunnyside) and, after exciting campaigns on Sunday’s action packed bill in Clonmel this should be a thriller.

And there will be a huge interest in the heavyweight final featuring Declan Aherne (Clonmel) and Eddie Power (Tramore), who is making a comeback this year.

Power, an all action fighter, was always a difficult opponent and, with his past experience to draw from, he will be fancied to progress to the nationals in December.

He had an impressive win over Rylane’s Josh McCarthy in the semi-finals.

Tom Jacob (Fr. Horgan’s) was an outstanding under-age boxer and he heralded his return at the weekend with very impressive performances, surviving two counts to beat John O’Sullivan (Rylane) and then disposing of Noel Kennedy (Leeside) on the 15 pt rule.

Tonight he will face Gary O’Sullivan (Sunnyside) who came back from five points down to beat Kieran Twohig (Rylane) in his semi-final and this light middleweight final should be a thriller.

The results of the other finals boxed in Clonmel on Sunday are:

Light Flyweight: P. Dower (Dungarvan) w.o.; Featherweight: P. Lyons (Carrick-on-Suir) beat N. Brazil (UCC) 9-2; Welterweight: D. Bond (St. Paul’s) beat B. O’Shea (Tralee) 17-7; Middleweight: W. O’Sullivan (St. Colman’s) w.o.; Light Heavyweight: M. Keenan (Sunnyside) beat J. Mackey (Clonmel) Rtd. Rd 3.

Meanwhile, Rylane Boxing Club who have staged big tournaments across the county from Bantry, to Macroom and Millstreet, will break new ground on December 7 when they stage another star-studded show in the Edel Quinn Hall, Kanturk.

“We will have a number of county, Munster and national champions in action,” Rylane coach Dan Lane said yesterday.

“This year we have a boxers from Newmarket and Kanturk in the club so we decided to move to Kanturk for the show.”

This season 70 boxers are training with the club who promoted the Four Nations Championships in Killarney last April.

Next year Ireland will host a multi-nations tournament for the first time and the INEC in Killarney is among the venues being considered. If the week-long event comes to Killarney then Rylane will again have an input.