Donegal boxing team lands four golds at William Wallace Box Cup

The Donegal Boxing team won four gold and two silver medals at the William Wallace Box Cup in Scotland.

Conan Kearney of St Bridget’s, Clonmany, Dunfanaghy Boxing Club’s Shaun Doohan, Carndonagh puncher Kieran Cunningham and Caoimhin Connolly from Twin Towns BC all took gold.

Irish champions Paddy McShane and Taylor Parke had to settle for silver after narrow final defeats.

Kearney, the 2021 Irish Boy 2 56kgs champion, landed the junior 66kgs title. Kearney overcame Granite City’s James Stewart in style, sweeping the boards on the score cards.

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Cunningham stopped Mason Cooper from Walsall Wood in the third round of the junior welterweight decider. Cunningham overwhelmed Cooper to take an excellent win having recorded a unanimous decision win over Glasgow City’s Taha Arbab in the 69kgs semi-final.

Doohan bagged the schoolboy 66kgs crown thanks to a superb performance that yielded a 5-0 win over Sam Brown of the Galashiels Boxing Club in Scotland.

The Stirling High School played host to a fine weekend of action and Twin Towns’ Connolly added his name to the winners’ roster. Connolly defeated Liam Moohan from Barrhead ABC via a unanimous decision in the junior 44kgs final. In his semi-final, Connolly defeated Grant Lindsay from Lochend Boxing Club, also thanks to a UD.

McShane, the 2021 Irish Elite flyweight champion, was pipped by Derryman Tiernan Glennon in the senior 57kgs final. Glenn held sway against the Letterkenny BC man on a narrow 3-2 split decision.

Raphoe BC’s Parke, who won two Irish titles this year, suffered a similar fate, falling to a 3-2 split decision at the hands of Walsall Wood’s Hayden Cooper in the schoolboy 38kgs decider.

Letterpenny teen Jack Harkin, who boxes out of the Oakleaf Boxing Club in Derry, also returned with a gold. Harkin, representing County Derry, won the youth 54kgs title, defeating Leo Jamieson of Cain BC 5-0 in the final.

A total of 14 boxers travelled with the Donegal boxing team, under the direction of county coach Gerard Keaveney. The tournament saw 247 boxers from 54 clubs enter.

Six Donegal boxers lost out in quarter-finals: Raphoe’s Rian Patton was beaten 3-2 by Joe Williams (District Youth ABC) in a junior 52kgs semi; Ryan Glackin (St Bridget’s, Clonmany) lost 5-0 against Jayden Price (Truth BC) at minor 38kgs; Raphoe pair David Tennyson and Ryley Doherty suffered 4-1 split decision defeats by Logan Rae (Cambusnethan Miners BC) and Patrikas Naruskevicius (Cain BC) in junior 56kgs and youth 60kgs clashes; Gary McNamara of Raphoe lost out 5-0 to Joe Glenwright (Lambton Street ABC) in a junior 64kgs semi; and Twin Towns’ Joey O’Hora suffered a UD defeat at the hands of Esosa Osemweigie (Meadowbank ABC) in a youth 75kgs semi.

At the quarter-final phase, Carndonagh’s Colm Callaghan and Fintan Robinson of St Bridget’s, Clonmany were on the wrong end of unanimous decisions in schoolboy 48kgs and junior 54kgs clashes with Reggie Baker (Peterborough Police ABC) and Jay Black (Auchengeich BC).