Hayden and Maughan make European podium

By Stephen Leonard

CRUMLIN Boxing Club’s William Hayden and St Mary’s Francis Maughan both helped Ireland finished fourth in the medals table at the 2016 European Schoolboy Championships in Croatia.

While the former, at 65kg, was one of two gold medal winners for the country at this tournament (Titan’s Jason Myers also topping the podium at 68kg), Maughan, fighting at 54kg, emerged with bronze.

In all Ireland had six competitors on the podium as the team finished up behind Russia, Ukraine and England, taking their medal count at these championships to 79 since they started back in 2003.

Hayden, who had missed out on the medals a last year’s European School-boys in Russia, demonstrated a superb combination of power and guile in this year’s campaign which culmin-ated in a victory over Andrii Grynnyk of Ukraine in the decider on Sunday.

In his opening bout of the competition he handed Nazar Karaka a standing count in the first round before stopping the Belarusian in the second.

His semi final against Russia’s Viktor Kashin proved a lot more technical as both boxers refused to rush in, but some excellent combinations to the head saw Hayden take a unanimous decision.

The decider was, again, a technical clash as Hayden produced a composed display that saw him emerge a comfortable winner despite a split decision being the outcome.

“He had competed in Anapa in Russia and just missed out on a medal, but we felt he definitely won the fight” said Hayden’s father Paul.

“But the experience did him the world of good. He came back a different boxer. He was very cool and composed even though he was up against far taller opponents with a much longer reach.

“We knew he had the power, but he showed that he is not just all about power. He had some great technical performances and wins” he added.

Francis Maughan, meanwhile, came through his Last 16 encounter with Russia’s Rakitin Ilya on a split decision before undoing Olekski Dentsenkov of Ukraine in the quarters, subsequently ensuring a bronze medal for the Dubliner.

The semi finals were to be, however, the last stop for him as he was beaten by the eventual gold medallist Matej Hlaca.

Also in action at these European Schoolboy Championships were Crumlin’s Jamie Edwards (72kg) and Jobstown’s Jonathan Hughes (43kg).

The former lost out to Andrei Voevodin of Russia in the quarter finals while Hughes came undone against Ukraine’s Maksym Havryliuk at the same stage.