Harty lands another title as his build-up to National Under 18 Championships continues

PORTLAOISE Boxing Club’s Edward Harty continued his build-up for this summer’s National Under 18 Championships with another tremendous title win in the National Junior Two competition, completing his march to the 66kg divisional title by way of unanimous 5-0 triumph over Conan Kearney of St. Bridget’s BC in the National Stadium.

That win marked the final step in a campaign that saw Harty serve up three impressive victories, starting with a 5-0 success against Charleville’s Arthur O’Donnell in the quarter-finals that was followed up with an equally emphatic win over Luke McAuley of Ormeau Road in the last four.

And after negotiating a tight opening round in his decider against Ulster champion, Kearney, the Portlaoise star cut loose in the second and third to ensure he fulfilled predictions of another domestic title.

“It was a good victory for Neddy” remarked Portlaoise BC head coach, Pat Ryan.

“The first round was 3-2 but the second one was 5-0 and then 5-0 again so he won very convincingly there.

“He probably got a little bit sucked in with Kearney in the first round, but once he managed his distance better, everything was good. He was able to dictate and dominate the contest after that.” Having landed gold at light welterweight in last year’s European Junior Championships in Sarajevo, Harty is looking to continue building momentum this year in the approach to his ultimate target – the National Under 18 Championships.

And Ryan has been pleased with the progress of his young protégé, whose National Junior Two crown has come hot on the heels of his impressive showing at the Subcarpathian Box Cup in Rzeszów, Poland in February.

There he scooped the ‘Best Boxer’ accolade following impressive wins over Poland’s Kazymyr Hlavatskiy in the 67kg semi-finals and Nazar Bas in his decider.

“Neddy has been in superb form throughout all his contests” continued Ryan. “He's improving very well.

“After winning the European Championships, we give him a considerable break, but our main objective now is the Under 18 National Championships.

“This win [in the National Junior Two Championships] was very important as well, but we knew most of the boys who were in it, and we were confident that he'd come through it all.

“With the training camp in Poland and getting the ‘Best Boxer’ award, he's building up nicely.

“He's a remarkable young lad. He applies himself very well and he walks around with his two feet on the ground. There's no arrogance or anything like that there” Ryan told The Laois Nationalist.

Harty is likely to be one of five boxers from Portlaoise who will be fielded in the National Under 18 Championships in July, several of whom are strongly tipped for honours.

Victory in the summer will secure further passage through to the European Under 18s later in the year and, with Harty eligible to go again at this level next year, he is not likely to be shouldering much pressure this time around.

He will take part the club’s training camp against a Welsh selection this week, Portlaoise having only recently fielded members Cody O’Reilly and Johnny Harty in week-long camp in Latvia.

“They got on very well there in that camp” remarked Ryan. “There were seven or eight countries involved, with Ukrainians, Poles, Moldovans and Latvians, so that was a great experience for them” he said.

Portlaoise Boxing Club, itself, played host to a major training camp back in January that saw a group of 27 Latvians (23 boxers and four coaches) travel over for the week-long event that generated huge interest in the Irish boxing community with competitors from Galway, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Laois, Kilkenny, Carlow and Dublin participating.