Double delight for Neilstown boys

IT WAS a case of two out of three for Neilstown Boxing Club in last weekend’s National Boy Championship Finals in the National Stadium.

While Boy Two 56kg competitor Joe Hutchinson and Ryan Murphy at Boy One 54kg both completed the march to their respective titles, John Casey (Boy Three 31kg) came undone in his decider.

Hutchinson, in beating Sam Davey of Townland 5-0, on Saturday, made it back to back national titles having gone all the way at Boy One degree last year.

He booked his place in this year’s decider after receiving another unanimous decision in his semi-final clash with Sean Whelan of St Mary’s.

Meanwhile Murphy also chalked up an emphatic 5-0 triumph in his Boy One Final which pitched him against Thomas Ward of Dromhair.

The Neilstown lad quickly put his opponent on the backfoot, dishing him out standing counts in both the second and third rounds en route to victory.

Both he and Hutchinson have made it a clean sweep of all the competitions they have entered this season, with wins in the Dublin and Leinster Champion-ships as well as the Kildare League which were opened up to Dublin clubs.

Hutchinson is likely to be entering the All-Ireland Cadet Championships in May hoping to secure a place on the Ireland team that will contest the European Championships this summer with several more likely to be entered into the All-Ireland Senor Cadet Championships.

Casey, meanwhile did put up a good show, but lost out against a very impressive Clepson dos Santos of Banbridge.

Commenting on this defeat, Neilstown Coach Ger Fleming said: “John got to the final last year and lost. He made the final again and lost to a very good opponent but gave a great account of himself.”