Irish boxing glory for Killilea and McInerney

ONE common denominator between the two Galway female boxers who won national Novices titles at the National Stadium in Dublin at the weekend was that they each showed they had “the heart of a lion”.

This was an attribute representatives from their respective clubs highlighted as one of the key reasons behind the successes of Monivea Boxing Club’s Orla McInerney (57kg) and Lumpini Boxing Club’s Brenda Killilea (75kg) at the national championships.

Having defeated Lucan BC’s Emer O’Mara and Adela Sadowskic from Saviours Crystal BC in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively, McInerney (26) was up against strong counter puncher in Sarah Kiely from Dungarvan BC in the decider.

Piling the pressure on her opponent from the off, McInerney emerged the victor on a score of 2/1 to clinch her first National crown and become the first female National title winner for Monivea Boxing Club.

Paying tribute to the Knockatogher (Kiltullagh) fighter, who has only been boxing for approximately 15 months, Monivea BC President Peter Mahon said: “She has the heart of a lion. She is unbelievable – the commitment she puts in.

“She had already won a Connacht title last year and she then had three tough fights on the way to the national title. She was the only one of the semi-finalists who had to box in the quarter-finals because there were only five fighters at her weight. So, she definitely had the harder route to the title.”

While Monivea BC has approximately 13 male fighters in possession of national titles across all grades, McInerney is the first to secure women’s belts at provincial and national levels.

“The number of female boxers is starting to improve and it is getting more popular,” continued Mahon. “We had a great crowd in the clubhouse to welcome Orla home and it was great to see all the young girls and boys of all ages there on the evening. You would hope that it would have a knock-on effect.”

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune