Donegal boxing squad up for a Stirling challenge

Boxing in Donegal is back on the up again after suffering a Covid KO three years ago.

During the pandemic shutdown, indoor sports such as boxing were hardest hit, but the sweet scientists took a count and are back with their fists up.

This weekend, a 14-strong Donegal team heads for Scotland to take part in the William Wallace Box Cup in Stirling, hosted by the Jonesy's Boxing Club.

Letterkenny’s five-time Irish champion Paddy McShane, the 2021 Irish Elite flyweight champion, leads the charge. Raphoe’s recently-crowned double Irish champion and St Bridget’s Clonmany teenager Conan Kearney, the 2021 Boy 2 56kgs kingpin, are also among the front-runners on a squad under the tutelage of the Donegal County Coach Gerard Keaveney.

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“This is all about experience,” Keaveney, a coach at Raphoe Boxing Club, says.  “You can’t buy that. For most of them, this will be a first. Some of these lads won’t have been away like this before, but this, we hope, will be the first of many trips like this.”

It is 31 years now since Keaveney boxed for Ireland against Scotland. He lost out to Kemp, a familiar opponent who he had beaten four times previously while on duty with club and county.

“I froze in the first round or two,” he recalls. “I came alive in the last round, but I lost the fight.”

Keaveney won three Ulster titles at 54kgs and has returned to coaching at Raphoe BC alongside the Head Coach, Gary McCullagh. He succeeded Dominic McCafferty as the county coach in 2022 and doesn’t take the role lightly.

He says: “It’s probably one of my biggest achievements in the sport to get a chance to take the squad away. I’m delighted and honoured.

“Boxing took a massive hit with Covid. Even before Covid, we noticed at the scales for Championships that numbers were down. When Covid hit, 13, 14 and 15-year-old young fellas, for example, all of a sudden lost two years and many forgot about boxing. There were easier options than battling to make weight for fighting. We’re trying now to develop more and more of these young boxers and bring them on.

“We’ve tried to build a real team element to this as well. It’s very important because these lads are away for four days and at the end of the day they’re representing Donegal here too. They’re a great bunch.”

Boxing was always in his blood, a passion fuelled by his father, the late Ollie Keaveney, the former medical registrar of the County Donegal Boxing Board.

The Donegal squad has been training twice a week lately in preparation for their weekend mission in Scotland. Peter O’Donnell, the County Donegal Boxing Board President will travel as team manager with Vice President James McCarron also among a traveling party that includes club coaches.

“The buy-in from clubs is so important,” Keaveney says. “We have set targets. This is probably one of the strongest squads we could send from Donegal at the moment. We’re probably going to come up against English champions and European medallists, but this is a great opportunity for these lads.”

Donegal squad: Caoimhin Connolly (Twin Towns, 44kgs); Conan Kearney (St Bridget’s, Clonmany, 66kgs); Ryan Glackin (St Bridget’s, Clonmany, 38.5kgs); Fintan Robinson (St Bridget’s, Clonmany, 54kgs); David Tennyson (Raphoe, 56kgs); Joey O’Hora (Twin Towns, 75kgs); Taylor Parke (Raphoe, 37kgs); Ryley Doherty (Raphoe, 60kgs); Rian Patton (Raphoe, 52kgs); Gary McNamara (Raphoe, 64kgs); Kieran Cunningham (Carndonagh, 69kgs); Colm Callaghan (Carndonagh, 48kgs); Paddy McShane (Letterkenny, 57kgs); Shaun Doohan (Dunfanaghy, 60kgs).