Blaney aiming for national boxing title this weekend

Navan boxer Christopher Blaney continued on his winning ways when he defeated Bernard Roe of Dublin Docklands Boxing Club in the semi-final of the u-21 National Boxing Championships at the National Stadium on Friday. Blaney, who was sidelined for a spell this year with an arm injury, showed that he is back to near his best when he put up a strong display against Roe to secure a victory. On his way to the last four Blaney defeated Shane Egan (Balbriggan) and Eamonn Tighe (Ballinacarrow, Sligo) to set up a meeting with Roe. At the end of the first round against Roe the score was 2-2, by the time the second round finished it was 7-4 in favour of Blaney and by the third round it was 12-8. Blaney's opponent in the final this Friday night will be Conrad Cummings from the Holy Trinity club in Belfast who he previously defeated after a tough contest last year that went right down to the wire. Blaney is due to resume his place on the Irish Amateur Boxing Association high performance unit which will involve taking part in an intensive training programme to improve his skills. Next up for the Navan boxer, after this weekend, will be the National Intermediate Boxing Championships in November when he will be hoping to add to his haul of nine national titles. A past winner of a Meath Chronicle/Cusack Hotels Sports Person-of-the-Month award Blaney was also part of the Irish team that took part in the AIBA World Youth Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan last year. Blaney's sister Shauna also recorded a victory in the Girl 1 33kg category in the Michael Andrews Championship at the National Stadium reclently. Another young Navan boxer Alan Donnelly was unlucky to lose out in the Boy 2 31kg final.