Boxing: Irish Elite Championships
IT is an unfortunate quirk of fate which prevents one of Ireland’s recent European medal winners from being involved in Irish elite finals night at the National Stadium.
This week has seen women box without headguards for the first time in Ireland, after the controversial International Boxing Association (IBA) – with whom the Irish Athletic Boxing Association (IABA) remains affiliated - introduced the change last month.
It was brought in for the European U22 Championships, though Carleigh Irving and other female competitors only received official confirmation days before leaving for Bulgaria.
The Derry light-fly was unfazed, clocking up three impressive wins on the way to a final showdown with Turkey’s Nursselen Yalgattekin.
“We had just finished a training session and the coaches came around us separately and told us ‘listen, this is what’s happening’,” says the 18-year-old.
“I had already mentally prepared myself, just in case, because it was always going to happen eventually. People were saying you don’t have to go over if you don’t want to, but that would be madness.
“I actually preferred it, I was always wanting to go no headguards… they can really disrupt your performance, the flow of your performance, and you can end up focusing on the headguard instead of the fight.
“I just find it a lot easier to box.”
However, the perils of boxing without a headguard were illustrated inside 30 seconds of the final when Irving came off worse from a clash of heads, leaving her with blood streaming from a nasty cut around the eyebrow.
Three times the referee called her over in the first round, but Irving was determined to battle on before eventually coming out the wrong side of the judges’ scorecards. Bringing home a major medal was a silver lining of course, and she received a deserved guard of honour upon arrival back at Oakleaf Boxing Club days later.
But that injury ultimately scuppered plans to go into the Irish Elite Championships. Having already claimed the Ulster elite crown earlier this year, and done some top-level sparring with European elite queen Shannon Sweeney, doctors deemed that further fights without a headguard, at this stage, would be too big a risk.
“I was absolutely gutted [after the European U22 final] because I know how close the fight was.
“I was in against a good girl but, whenever you’re second, you can’t help but think ‘why wasn’t I first?’ It’s hard. I know I boxed well and I was really proud of my performance, it’s just that thing of being so close.
“The cut didn’t stop me trying, I stayed on her for the rest of the fight; I didn’t back down from it. The girl I beat in the semi-final, she won a European elite bronze, and the Turkish girl I lost to in the final got silver, so it shows the level you’re mixing it with.
“But I’ll be back.”
As a result, it is Ciara Walsh and the experienced Courtney Daly who will face off in Friday night’s 48kg final, while there are plenty of other interesting match-ups ahead.
Among them is the meeting of Belfast boys Louis Rooney and Padraig Downey – a repeat of January’s hotly-contested Ulster final between the light-fly pair. Star man Rooney got the nod that night, and recently brought home gold from the European U22 Championships.
Rathfriland’s Donagh Keary lost out to Gavin Ryan in an exhibition bout at the Ulster elites 10 months ago, and will hope to set the record straight in the featherweight decider, while Jon McConnell will hope to follow-up an impressive win over Eugene McKeever with victory against Wayne Kelly at light-middleweight.
Paris Olympians Jack Marley and Aoife O’Rourke will both be in action, as will Kelyn Cassidy and Martin McDonagh, both of whom came so close to reaching last summer’s Games.
SCHEDULE
Confirmed finals (5pm start)
48kg: C Walsh (Smithfield) v C Daly (Crumlin)
48kg: L Rooney (Star) v P Downey (St John Bosco)
52kg: A Byrne (Arklow) v S Blaney (Navan)
54kg: O Worsencroft (Avona) v P Joyce (Olympic, Limerick)
57kg: D Keary (Rathfriland) v G Ryan (Ratoath)
66kg: G Walsh (St Mary’s, Dublin) W/O
70kg: L O’Rourke (Castlerea) v T O’Reilly (Portlaoise)
71kg: W Kelly (Ballynacargy) v J McConnell (Holy Trinity)
75kg: B Doocey (Castlebar) v A O’Rourke (Castlerea)
80kg: J Whelan (Dublin Docklands) v K Cassidy (Savours Crystal)
81kg: M Kelly (Sacred Heart) v S Kearney (St Catherine’s)
81+kg: D Tinnelly (Clann Naofa) v J Bobbett (Liberty)
86kg: R Collins Murphy (St Monica’s) v B Kennedy (St Brigid’s, Edenderry)
92kg: J Marley (Monkstown, Dublin) v N Ojo (Esker)
92+kg G Ide (Crumlin) v M McDonagh (Galway)
