Olympic boxers take three titles

Date Published: {J}

OLYMPIC Boxing Club came away with three All Ireland underage boxing titles at last weekend’s boxing finals held in the National Stadium.

This was the biggest haul of titles by any club in the country and continues the club’s excellent record at bringing All-Ireland championships back to Galway under the wings of club coaches John Mongan, John Ward and Michael Mongan.

First to bring back a title for the club was Frankie ‘Hitman’ Cleary who impressed all who attended the finals in beating his Dublin opponent Tom Maughan 6-1 in the final. Cleary dominated his opponent from the opening bell and scored with a number of his trademark body shots which had his opponent in trouble in the final round.

Next to secure a title for the club was James ‘Rock’ Cleary at 36kg who lived up to his nickname by storming through all nine of his qualifying bouts along the way reach the final. Boxing a tough opponent from Cork in the final, Sean Og Connor, Cleary came good when it mattered in the final round and pulled out a hard-earned 2-1 victory.

Boxing at 31kg in the 11 year old category, Chris O Brien secured a third All Ireland for Olympic and Galway by coming from behind to defeat Alan Ruddy of St Bridgids BC. O’Brien boxed brilliantly in the quarter and semis and fully deserved his victory, and is definitely a boxer to watch in the future.

The club also had three other boxers in the finals who came close to bringing home titles: Martin ‘Nailer’ Delaney was edged out in the 29kg final after a superb display, while Jamie Mongan was narrowly beaten in his final by Oliver Mc Carthy. Jonathan Ward was narrowly beaten by the reigning irish champion William Donoghue of St Michael’s Athy, but boxed particularly well in reaching the finals.

The ever improving Oisin O’Mahony won his quarter final bout and was deemed unlucky to lose his semi-final. However to reach this far in his first competitive year boxing was an amazing feat for the young Galway City boxer.

The three Irish champs from the club will be entered into the Junior cadets, from which they may well be selected to represent Ireland at upcoming international competitions. For Head coach John Mongan, the finals were an unqualified success.

“This is the result of a year’s hard work and I would like to congratulate the lads for the work they put in in getting to the finals and it just goes to prove that hard work, dedication and discipline all pay off in the end.”