As the boxing season draws to a close, the Erne Boxing Club delivered another memorable night of boxing with some quality action. The club’s tournament billed as Female Fight Night more than lived up to expectation delivering 13 contests with two matches pitting current Female Irish Elite champions against two current Female Elite champions from Scotland.

Erne Boxing Club coach Sean Crowley commented: “What a great night of boxing. The girls really stole the show. The club were delighted to get the opportunity to stage this event and sincerely thank the two Scottish and Irish champions for travelling to support the event.” Although the night was all about the girls, the first half of the evening started with six of the Erne Boxing Club’s boys in supporting contests.

Harris Crowley got the evening off to a great start with a unanimous points win over this season’s Ulster Nine counties champion Rory Hetherton (Carrickmore Boxing Club). Crowley pressed the action in all three rounds and got the better of several good exchanges to earn a deserved win.

Pat Stokes making his competitive debut was pitted against the vastly more experience Evan O’Reilly (St Matthew’s Boxing Club) and impressed in defeat against the tough Dubliner. Stokes landed with some very clean and eye-catching punches but the determined O’Reilly was just that bit busier to earn the win by split-decision.

Next in action saw the host’s Pearse Mulligan grind out a points win over Luke Lawlor (St Mathew’s Boxing Club). Lawlor was a neat and tidy boxer but Mulligan was able to take him out of his stride with short bursts of punches. The contest was very scrappy at times but judges favoured Mulligan’s aggression and he deservedly got the win in another very close contest.

Dylan McMahon was next in action and arguably faced the toughest assignment as he was matched with this season’s Ulster Nine Counties champion and All Ireland Semi-Finalist Danny Duffy (Immaculata Strabane Boxing Club).

Duffy was a very classy boxer who landed with well-placed punches throughout but McMahon gave him a great argument and landed with good shots of his own in all three rounds. The judges were once again split but the decision went in favour of the visitor.

The first half of the bill finished with mixed success, Brandon Cassidy after getting off to a great start against Eddie McDonagh (Omagh Boys & Girls Club) faded down the stretch and dropped a points decision. But it finished on a high with Aaron Burns coming through another thrilling war-of-attrition contest to out-work a very game Christopher McDonagh (Omagah Boys & Girls Club) and collect a hard-earned but much deserved unanimous points win. Burns tenacity and solid body punching in close made the difference.

The second half of the evening saw five of the club’s female boxers in skills contests. Erne Boxing Club’s Caoilfhionn Crowley and Linda Greene shared the square ring against each other as did Erin Mulligan and Lena Fox.

Despite being club mates there was no friendly fire and each pair landed great punches in between demonstrating their ever improving boxing skills.

Kaci Crowley wrapped things up for the host side with an excellent exhibition contest against this season’s All Ireland Champion Alanna Mayse (Two Castles Boxing Club). Both girls landed with great shots and impressed the audience with their high levels of skill.

The evening was rounded off with the two international bouts. Irish champion Dervla Duffy and Scottish champion Stephanie Kernachan gave a breath-taking performance and the two gladiators landed with solid punches throughout and battled to their last breath in a pulsating and highly entertaining contest. This was only an exhibition contest and both combatants were rightly declared winners.

In the final contest of the evening Irish champion Kelly Harrington was just too slick for her Scottish counterpart Gardner Moore. After landing with a strong flurry of head punched Harrington forced a standing count and she was relentless in her follow up attack. Moore was subsequently retired by her corner to give Harrington the victory.

The Erne Boxing Club advise that they have one final engagement of the season as they are bringing a team of six to compete at the Monkstown International Box Cup in Dublin this weekend.

Sean Crowley explained,” This is a very prestigious competition for Schoolboy and Youth boxers as there will be boxers from all across Europe competing. It will be extremely difficult to medal at this event but it’s going to be a great experience for our lads and will really help with their development. The club wish to thank all our supporters as tonight’s event and attending these competitions would not be possible without your help and we are truly grateful.”