Holohan and Cahill progress to National Senior Cadet Championship finals

PORTLAOISE Boxing Club’s Lorcan Holohan and Jack Cahill are both just one fight away from National Senior Cadet Championship glory after they navigated their way past tough semi-final bouts in the National Stadium on Friday night.

The former carded his fourth win of the campaign as he earned a unanimous decision against Patrick Myers of Spartacus BC in the 63kg division, setting himself up for a title fight against Baldoyle’s Phoenix Kenny back in the Stadium this coming Friday.

Cahill, meanwhile, will face off against Lee Largey Snodden of Immaculata BC in the 52kg decider that same night after he successfully negotiated the challenge of Holy Family’s Paddy Nevin in the penultimate rounds on a scoreline of 4-1.

Portlaoise head coach, Pat Ryan was extremely pleased with the performance of both boxers, who will now be lining out in their very first All-Ireland finals.

Speaking about Holohan’s victory, Ryan told he  Laois Nationalist: “Lorcan was very good. He was ice cool and he did exactly what he was required to do. He was very patient because it was very important that he kept his on-guard position.

“Myers can throw these check hooks and lean backs and all kinds of angled shots and so it was very important for Lorcan to keep his on-guard position at all times and then defend, and that's what he did.

“Lorcan was very accurate, and in fairness to Myers, you have to give him full credit, because he took some leather with some of the shots that Lorcan caught him with,” he said.

It was yet another impressive display by Holohan who had already seen off the challenge of Kai Dynes of Immaculata Boxing Club, Oakleaf’s Lucas McIvor and Darren Joyce of Sacred Heart in previous rounds.

Indeed, he has steadily grown into this competition and, while appreciating the huge challenge he faces in his bid to complete his march to a first All-Ireland honour at the expense of Kenny, who, himself, despatched Immaculata’s Gerard Smith from the semi-finals, Ryan believes Holohan has the potential to serve up another big result.

“Kenny is another exceptional boy and is probably the favourite, but Lorcan is going to have a couple of surprises,” he insisted.

“I don’t think Kenny will have ever met anyone like Lorcan. He’s been away on seven or eight trips to all kinds of different countries last year, and all of that helps breeds confidence,” he said.

Regarding Cahill’s triumph over Nevin in the 52kg semi-finals, Ryan remarked “It was a tough fight and Jack really had to dig it out. I suppose the difference between the two guys was that Jack, most certainly, wanted it more. The desire was there and he really went above himself.

“The first round was tentative enough and Nevin was quite lively. He’s a fair operator who’s been around the block. But Jack stuck to the plan and followed the instructions given to him. His jab-slip-jab was very successful for him.

“Nevin is a rangy boy, but when Jack pushed forward and initiated more attacks, he got a lot of success.

“It was close, but each round went marginally in favour of Jack because of his desire and his commitment to initiate attacks, and the success that he had with the combinations,” he said.

Looking ahead to Cahill’s title decider against Snodden, Ryan said “He (Snodden) is a special boy who’s also been around the block and has won a couple of All-Irelands.

“But Jack won't be fazed by anything really. He’s just one of those rare boys who just gets on with it. There's no showboating. He just gets on with the simple things very well, and I think this will hopefully be a cracker of a fight,” he added.

Having surmounted the challenge of Jake Page from Clonard in the last eight, and most recently Nevin, Cahill, himself, is building some good momentum, which he will be hoping can take him past Snodden, who earned a split 3-2 decision against Holy Family’s Jason Nowamagbe in his respective semi-final.

With two boxers now successfully through to the Senior Cadet finals, Portlaoise will be targeting an equally successful campaign in next month’s National Elite competition, in which they will be represented by Rachel Lawless (51kg), Cody O’Reilly (60kg), Johnny Harty (65kg) and Tiffany O’Reilly (70kg).