The Erne Boxing Club hosted their first boxing tournament in nearly three years following the Covid-19 pandemic at a sold-out and packed Enniskillen Hotel last Friday.

The hosts had 12 boxers in action, with four competing in exhibition matches during a pre-show, and eight in competitive matches on the main fight-card.

With more than 200 people in attendance the atmosphere was electric, and all boxers were given a magnificent reception.

Outside of the home boxers, the event featured Elite champion boxers from England and Scotland taking on their counterparts from across the country.

The Erne Boxing Club had a bittersweet evening, with great performances from all their boxers, but only registering four wins from eight contests, with three defeats coming on split-decisions.

“All of our boxers were matched extremely hard and they either conceded weight, experience or age to their opponents or a mixture of these, so no wins were guaranteed,” said Erne Boxing Club Head Coach, Sean Crowley.

Josh Logue-McDermott, Aoibhe Reilly, Orlaith Donnegan and Oisin Kennedy got the evening under way against opposition from Castlerea, Newry and Mullingar in exhibition matches.

The main card started well for the home side with a winning ring debut for Cullen Curran, who out-smarted Rhian Shelly (Castlerea).

Curran was under constant pressure but landed the better shots throughout and used good footwork to evade attacks for a hard-fought win.

Katie Rasdale was facing a heavier opponent and as such was forced into the trenches at times.

However, many observers felt with the cleaner punches that she did enough to win, but the decision went in favour of Olivia Cameron (Castlerea).

Ciaran Cassidy was given a tough task, being matched against this year’s National champion Patrick Martin (Enniskerry).

But it was a great contest between two very good stylists.

Cassidy pressed the action and scored with good shots throughout, but Martin was adept at counter-punching. Agonisingly, the split-decision verdict went in favour of the visitor.

Oisin Gilheaney set the room alight with his relentless pressure and power punches to out-slug and overcome the more skillful Enda Lavin (Ballyhunnis).

The points win for Gilheaney had greater significance as he avenged a recent previous defeat in the process.

Amy Nolan, making her debut for the Erne side, was pitted against three-times National Champion Niamh Keogh (Olympic Mullingar).

Nolan started well, landing solid jabs and good crosses. The Erne boxer appeared in control throughout the contest and although Keogh had her moments of success and landed with some quality shots of her own, the split-decision in favour of the visitor came as a surprise.

Arguably, the performance of the night came from unsung hero Cameron Suttle as he took on namesake Cameron Crichton (Olympic Mullingar).

Crichton – a former multi-titled Junior and Youth boxer – had the greater ring experience as well as significant height and reach advantages.

He used these to outbox Suttle in the first session, but the tempo set by Suttle start to take its toll on his opponent.

Victory

In round two, after overcoming a bad start, Suttle landed with some solid clubbing shots to force two standing counts and register a come-from-behind stoppage victory.

Next up, and the fight of the night saw Rhys Owens take on Jojo McCardle (Holy Family Golden Gloves).

Buoyed on by the large crowd in attendance, Owens dropped his usual slick boxing style and aggressively took the fight to his taller and heavier Belfast opponent.

After picking some nice scoring shots in the opener, drawn on by the rapturous support he went all out on the attack, but McCardle rallied and also scored with good shots in a close first round.

McCardle had better success in round two as Owens held his feet, but Owens made adjustments and upped his game in the last round, and with the crowd behind him fought relentlessly to the final bell.

The crowd were all in disbelief when the split-decision verdict went in favour of the visitor, but it was a great contest with nothing between the two highly-skilled combatants.

Erne Boxing Club’s final competitor pitched Anthony Malanaphy against Lee Ryan (Mullingar Elite).

Malanaphy started all three rounds very well, picking Ryan off with good shots, but Ryan was dogged and determined and had some good spells of his own in each of the rounds.

But overall Malanaphy had the superior skill set and he landed the higher volume of shots to secure a unanimous points win.

Ryan very sportingly acknowledged the decision by raising Malanaphy’s arm at the end of the contest.

“We are very proud of all our boxers tonight. They did myself and the rest of the coaching team very proud tonight,” said Sean Crowley.

“Despite several changes to the planned opposition due to unforeseen circumstances, and nearly all of our boxers having to concede some concessions to their opponents – mostly due to weight or experience – they just got on with it and gave their all.

“Considering the very tough match-making, it was good to come away with four wins, but having three split-decisions going against us tonight we are a little bit disappointed, as we felt another couple decisions should have gone our way.”