McDonagh and Meade make European podium
WINNIE Christina McDonagh of Neilstown Boxing Club and Kilnamanagh BC’s Tyler Meade both reached the podium at the European Schoolboy and Schoolgirl Championships in Bulgaria this week.
The former captured gold in the Girls 63kg division following a super perform-ance that saw her earn a unanimous decision against Russia’s Alina Safina in the decider on Tuesday.
That victory came three days after she had a come through a very tough semi finals against Norway’s Sunniva Hofstad, emerging on the favourable side of a 3-2 split decision.
Speaking to The Echo, McDonagh’s coach Ger Fleming said “Winnie received a bye in the quarter finals and then came up against a tall Norwegian in the semis who was very tactical and wanted to keep it long.”
“It meant she had to try and go inside and cut her off and she did that to perfection.
“Then before the final she came down with a bad dose of tonsillitis. We had to bring her to the doctor and she was immediately put on an antibiotic.
“She had to do a medical a half hour before the fight and she passed that, but we told her to pace herself in the final especially because she was on an antibiotic.
“Usually she just goes at it, but she listened to our instructions and she controlled the fight with her boxing.
Good combinations
“She hurt the Russian with about 15 seconds to go in the first round. In the second, she started to put together some good combinations and moved in at her own pace and the third round was pretty much the same,” he recalled.
Tyler Meade, meanwhile, earned bronze in the Boys 72kg class after beating Serbia’s Milon Tibic 5-0 in the quarter finals before then losing out to Russian Daniil Kolotov in the penultimate rounds.
There were other encouraging performances from the likes of Drimnagh’s Martin Collins, St Mary’s Michael Connors and Neilstown’s Ryan Murphy and Joe Hutchinson in this competition also.
Ireland secured second place on the medals table in this competition, behind Russia and ahead of third place England.
Indeed the squad’s haul of four gold, four silver and six bronze marked a record number of medals for Irish boxing at this level.
Speaking after the deciders, Irish coach Liam Brereton said “The entire squad were absolutely magnificent from the start of the tournament to today’s finals.
“They can all be proud of their performances as we are certainly proud of the performances of this amazing young team.”
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