Portlaoise boxers Casey and O’Reilly crowned National Under 15 champions

PORTLAOISE Boxing Club made it a treble in this season’s National Under 15 Championships after Rosaletta Casey edged the Girls 42kg final in the National Stadium on Friday night, while Thomas O’Reilly was awarded a walkover in the Boys 75kg decider.

With James Jnr Donoghue having, himself, been awarded a walkover in the 33kg division earlier in the month, Casey and O’Reilly were looking to complete the march to their respective titles and put themselves in the reckoning for selection for the Irish team that will contest this November’s European Junior Cadet Championships.

In her decider, Casey had to negotiate the severe challenge of Ballinacarrow’s Isabelle Nolan, who had pipped her in the recent Monkstown Box Cup, the Portlaoise girl exacting revenge when she emerged on the favourable side of 3-2 decision this time around.

“Rosaletta won the first round, but it was tight” admitted Portlaoise Boxing Club head coach, Pat Ryan.

“Isabelle is a very aggressive, come-forward boxer, and she was tenacious. But for me, Rosaletta has a little bit more skill in terms of managing her distance and getting in those eye-catching shots, which she did in order to shade that first round.

“She won the second round well. She was stepping off, keeping it at long range, putting her opponent off balance and then countering with straight long shots. It worked superbly.

“Isabelle knew she had to really come forward and try and be forceful in the final round, and I suppose Rosaletta got caught up in a brawl.

“While she is a more skilful boxer, it’s very difficult when you have such an aggressive opponent who tries to nullify everything. That tenaciousness is going to cause you problems.

“But she weathered it well and boxed well enough to get her hand up, and that's all that matters really,” he told the Laois Nationalist.

O’Reilly was due to face off against Desmond West for the National Under 15 75kg prize following his first-round stoppage of Edenmore’s James Ward in the semi-finals earlier this month.

The two-time National champion did, however, have to be content with securing his third All-Ireland title by way of a walkover.

“Thomas unfortunately didn't get the chance to box in the final as his opponent didn't make the weight,” explained Ryan. “It was disappointing for Thomas and his opponent as well.

“Shane Forde would be the head coach there and he was shocking disappointed that he didn't make the weight. But Thomas had a great win in the semi-final and hopefully now he gets selected to go to the European Championships,” he added.

The success of Donoghue, Casey and O’Reilly in the National Under 15 Championships sees Portlaoise increase, to eight, their haul of All-Ireland honours so far this year.

And they will be looking to add to that when they field Lorcan Holohan (63.5kg), Kevin Pukuta (75kg), Ryan Byrne (70kg), Fabian Berko (66kg) and Jack Cahill (54kg) in this month’s National Senior Cadet Championships.

Certainly Ryan and his team of coaches in Portlaoise have reason to be confident of doing just that, with Holohan having already struck gold in the Senior Cadets back in May before emerging victorious at the recent World of Havoc Tournament in Orlando, Florida where he successfully negotiated the challenge of Xavier Cruz-Villa of California and Florida’s Christopher Thigpen.

Jack Cahill is another Portlaoise lad likely to be pushing strongly for gold having finished runner-up Lee Largey Snodden of Immaculata BC in the 52kg decider at the previous running of these championships.

The Senior Cadets help make up a busy month for Portlaoise Boxing Club who will also field five members, namely Cody O'Reilly, Johnny and Neddy Harty, Louis Griffin and Solomon Udeze in the upcoming Wild Atlantic International Box Cup, taking place in Ballina BC next weekend.

Catering for youth and elite boxers, this competition will, in addition to a huge number of Irish athletes, involve competitors from England, Scotland and Wales.

And following on from that, Portlaoise BC itself will run a training camp from 18 to 23 September involving boxers from England, Poland, their own club and other competitors from around the country.