Erne Boxing Club coach Sean Crowley was delighted with the performances of his young charges as the club hosted their first boxing tournament of the 2016/17 season. 
The bill featured no less than 10 home boxers with 15 bouts in total. 
Crowley enthused: “The opening tournament of the season is aimed at giving our new boxers some experience and for our more established boxers the opportunity to get some early competition. Despite several pull outs and last minute changes to the programme we were delighted to have ten boxers compete,” the coach explained.
Mark Kells was the home hero of the night coming through a titanic battle with Vijay Kumar (Trumpington BC). Kumar only last month reached the final of the English Development championships and was a stern test for the home favourite.
Both combatants traded heavy punches in the opening stanza but a strong finish from Kells took the first round. Kumar came on strong in the second session but Kells summoned up every last ounce of energy to outwork his opponent in the last and take a deserved points decision. He also collected the ‘Boxer of the Night’ accolade for his efforts.
Mark Monaghan also got his hand raised in victory following an equally pulsating contest against Ben Mann (Ballahadereen BC). For three rounds the two boxers traded punches non-stop and both had plenty of success. The contest was close but Monaghan just edged matters and got his hand raised by way of split decision.
The Erne Boxing Club’s remaining three competitors John Stokes, Dylan McMahon and Charles McDonagh all fought very gamely but dropped points decisions. John Stokes was very unfortunate; the general opinion from ringside being he won the first two rounds of his match with Adam Boyd (Strabane) before dropping the last but the split decision went against him.
Dylan McMahon was involved in a tough tussle with Oisin Harkin (Cootehill BC). McMahon made a good start but Harkin won the later two rounds to collect a points win. Charles McDonagh boxed Fred Barnby (Trumpingtom BC) and had difficulty getting to grips with his tall southpaw opponent. Barnby set a high tempo and McDonagh struggled to get his punches off and although he put in a dogged display the English boxer was a deserved victor.
The Ernesiders had a further five boxers compete in Exhibition matches. Caoilfhionn Crowley and Carla Connolly (Ballahadereen) entertained the crowd trading punches non-stop for all three rounds. Thomas McDonagh showed plenty of skill and impressed in his match with Adam Spollen (Strabane). Joanna Czerwinska put in a solid and dominant display against the very game Amy Logan (Wattlebridge). Newcomer Cameron Sutton had a tough induction to the sport with another highly competitive affair against Adam Monaghan (Wattlebridge). Kaci Crowley whose opponent withdrew, got the opportunity to demonstrate her skills with Jessica Connolly (Ballahadereen).