Holohan off to a flying start in National Senior Cadet Championships

LORCAN Holohan of Portlaoise Boxing Club has secured a place in the National Senior Cadet Championships quarter-finals.

Competing in the 63kg division, he opened up his campaign with a unanimous 5-0 victory over Kai Dynes of Immaculata Boxing Club in the National Stadium on Friday evening before seeing off the challenge of Oakleaf’s Lucas McIvor in equally convincing fashion on Saturday to secure his place in the last eight of the competition.

They were two very encouraging wins for Holohan, as he ignited his title quest against the hugely powerful Dynes, who is coached by the much-decorated Ryan Lindberg.

Portlaoise head coach, Pat Ryan, who himself, coached Lindberg at international level, was pleased at the manner in which Holohan negotiated the fierce challenge of Dynes.

“The most important thing for Dynes was to box it at close quarters, but Lorcan handled him very well,” remarked Ryan.

“He caught him with some lovely combinations, and then on the inside Lorcan, over the last year and a half, has been taught to box close range.

“And, inside was where Dynes thought that he was going to be the stronger boy, and he was extremely strong.

“Still, he thought he was going to dominate on the inside, but Lorcan is a very accomplished young boy now, and he won the exchanges at close quarters and was the smarter boxer at long range.

“It was a unanimous decision for Lorcan, but it was a dogfight, and it was tight,” admitted Ryan.

Regarding Holohan’s following victory over McIvor of Oakleaf BC, Ryan remarked, “Lorcan got an opportunity to box from long to middle range and really didn’t have to go close at all.

“Boxing at range, he’s very good. He managed his distance very well and his combinations were, for the most part, very accurate.” he said.

Holohan is one of four boxers that Portlaoise have fielded in the 2025 National Senior Cadet Championships, with Fabian Berko (66kg) and Jack Cahill (52kg) also set for action this weekend.

Kevin Pukuta saw his title challenge ended when he lost out to Hughie Lee Nevin of Sacred Heart in their 70kg clash on Saturday.

Ryan, nevertheless, remained upbeat in the wake of his reversal, telling the *****Laois Nationalist***** “Kevin probably lost to the best boxer in it. Over the last 12 months he has been traveling and he has improved immensely.

“He's done some very good things, but unfortunately he needed to get the nose cauterized because, it's bleeding often and whenever he gets on top, then the referee has to stop it, because of the nose bleed, and that just interrupts his flow,” he explained.

Ryan, nevertheless has great hopes for Pukuta, as well as the three other competitors still representing the club in the National Senior Cadets in the hope of going all the way in their respective divisions and securing their place in European Championship competition later in the year.

While they may not have yet represented Ireland on the international stage, they are no strangers to boxing abroad, having lined out for Portlaoise in various multi-nations in the likes of England, Poland and Latvia.

The Senior Cadet Championships is the latest national contest ahead of a busy summer of competition on the domestic boxing front.

Next month will see the staging of a National Elite competition in which Portlaoise will field Cody O’Reilly (60kg), Johnny Harty (65kg) and Tiffany O’Reilly (70kg).

Following that will be a National Under 19 Championships in July, although Ryan and his coaching team, have yet to decide whether or not they will be putting forward competitors for that.

Indeed, Ryan had anticipated the running of a National Under 18 Championships in which they were ready to field up to seven members, but the Portlaoise head coach is reluctant to see his boxers lining out in a competition in which, he feels, they could be at a disadvantage in terms of age and weight.

“I have serious reservations about all of this, because with these Under 19 Championships, 17-year-olds are entitled to box in that,” said Ryan. “But the weights have changed and the age categories have changed.

“We now have to go back to the drawing board because at Under 18, we would have had the likes of Neddy Harty, Louis Griffin, Rico McInerney, Paddy O'Reilly, Solomon Udeze.

“Now we have to look at the weight categories, because Under 19 changes the bar, and one has to seriously question the health and safety of your boxers in all of this.

“If we genuinely believe that it's not in the best interest of our boxers, then we won't be doing this,” he insisted.