Defeats but no crisis in Fermanagh insists King
FERMANAGH boss Pat King insists there is no crisis within his squad despite their three opening defeats in the revamped National Football League.
Last year’s All-Ireland B winners travel to Laois this weekend for a game which King agrees has taken on a major importance.
The Ernesiders performed creditably before losing to AllIreland finalists Mayo first time out and then were exceptionally unlucky a fortnight later when going down by the minimum to Louth, who went on to win the B Championship.
Nine days ago however, Fermanagh let themselves down with a dismal display at home to a limited Leitrim team.
“The performance against Leitrim was very disappointing. We started as though we were going to completely over-run them.”
The Fermanagh manager is still ruing the last ditch goal-bound Raymond Gallagher shot against Louth which cannoned off the opposition goalie’s back and rebounded to safety.
“The keeper didn’t know very much about it at all. It was a great six man move and the ball ended up probably with the guy who you would have wanted to have had the chance.”
MONAGHAN hurling manager Joe Hayes tendered his resignation last Wednesday, a source from the county confirmed yesterday.
The Tipperary man is understood to have been angry that his position as Monaghan hurling boss wasn’t confirmed at the November meeting of the county board earlier this month.
County senior football manager Eamonn McEneaney and the managements of both the minor football and hurling teams were reappointed at the November gathering.
JOHN Lowey aims to fly back from the USA for Christmas as the new WBC world super-bantamweight champion after landing a spectacular title shot against Mexico’s Erik Morales.
Victory for the 31-year-old could pave the way for an all-Irish world title showdown with Wayne McCullough.
McCullough has been mentioned in US dispatches as the expected number one mandatory opponent for Morales early in the New Year.
Lowey has the chance to gate-crash the dollar-rich unification series planned in 1998...and maybe go head-to-head with his former amateur rival.
The former Ledley Hall amateur faces an unbeaten fighter in Morales, 10 years his junior, who two months ago battered illustrious Latino veteran Daniel Zaragoza into retirement.
Lowey and his Mexican opponent, who has stopped 21 of his 27 opponents in an unbeaten career, are to meet for festive fireworks in Tijuana on December 12.
GLENN McLARNON will make his professional debut on December 20 after signing for Barry Hearn’s Matchroom stable at the weekend.
In a low key meeting with Hearn in Dublin on Saturday, the 23-year-old light welterweight finally put pen to paper after weeks of research. McLarnon, who fought over 130 times as an amateur, said he studied the professional market before signing.
He becomes the third Irish amateur to join the ever growing Belfast fight night events this year, following former Irish internationals, flyweight Damaen Kelly and cruiserweight Cathal O’Grady, into the pay-per-punch market.
ULSTER will send a squad of 14 young boxers to Ipswich on Friday to compete in the annual match against England’s Schoolboys select.
The panel was named after last weekend’s Coca-Cola Nine Counties Championship finals, where around 40 contests decided the listing of this year’s champions.
The coaches for the trip are Billy McClean (St Agnes) and Kevin Simmons (Bishop Kelly ABC). Bob Nesbitt will manage the team while the travelling referee/judge is Bobby Spiers.
The team is: S McClurkin (St Agnes), K Maxwell (Dockers), D Cunningham (Saints), F McClurkin (St Agnes), J Rea (All Saints), T O’Neill (Emerald), G Gallagher (Dunfanaghy), O Gribben (HML), A Murray (Cavan), G McAuley (Star), P Heaney (Bishop Kelly), M McComb (St Agnes), M Casey (HML), F Hargan (St Canice’s).
