Plenty of thrills and spills at Meath Boxing championships

The thrill-a-minute Meath Boxing Championships at Trim GAA club on Sunday afternoon produced several magnificent bouts and some hard hitting punches in all categories. The final contest of the day saw one of the most devastating blows as Hugh Conlon (Collon Philipstown) beat Nigel Heffernan (South Meath) in the Novice 85kg when the referee had to stop the fight inside the opening minute after Conlon caught Heffernan with a big right. Prior to that knockout blow there were also some excellent contests. A cagey opening round was shaded by South Meath's Owen Duffy as he won the Novice 75kg title with victory over OHP's Christopher Joyce. Duffy's more aggressive style had Joyce on the back foot, but neither man landed a major blow in the first. The second continued in the same mode with Duffy on the offensive and catching the tiring Joyce. The South Meath fighter continued to own the third round, but didn't push his advantage home and had to settle for a unanimous points win. In the 71kg Novice final Dealgan Dundalk's Pierce O'Callaghan proved too strong for South Meath's James Fitzsimons and won a unanimous decision. However there was guaranteed local success in the 60kg Novice decider when Ashbourne's Mark Teahan (Ashbourne) beat South Meath's Gary Osborne on a unanimous decision. In a very close quarter contest both fighters landed decent shots with Osborne's jab and quick right left giving him a scoring edge at the end of the first. However, Osborne faded badly in the second as Teahan took control with measured punches as the South Meath fighter looked to tie up his opponent. In the third round Teahan continued to dominate as Osborne looked tired and faded out of the contest. The opening Novice final of the day, the 57kg, ended in disappointment for Christopher Deegan (Navan) when he lost to Anthony Perkins (Dealgan) by a majority decision. Navan's Leroy Dick was the only Meath fighter to taste success in the Youth 2 category when he defeated Conor Rooney (Killanny) in the 66kg final. An entertaining opening round was very even as Dick absorbed a lot of body shots, but used his pace to counter and landed some good shots. In the second the pace dropped significantly as Dick stayed outside the range to pick off jabs, but Rooney defended well. Two heavy rights early in the third gave Dick the edge as Rooney was rattled and took a standing eight count. That flurry from Dick was enough to give him the title. However, in the other Youth 2 finals Martin O'Leary (South Meath) lost to Stephen Stokes (Holy Family) by unanimous decision in the 70kg and Hugh Myers beat his Holy Family team mate Alan Davis in the 60 kg decider. The Youth 1 64kg final was an all-Meath affair as Lee Delaney (Navan) lost to Jordan Benson (South Meath) by unanimous decision. Both boys threw heavy punches in a tight opening round as the smaller, more powerful Delaney landed some heavy shots, but Benson picked off his scoring punches in the second. After a tough and tight third round Delaney's heavier punching had Benson rattled, but the south Meath fighter continued to score with jabs and claimed the title. Jamie Dias defeated his Holy Family colleague Edward Lawrence to win the Youth 1 60 kg, while Charles McDonagh from Clann Naofa was too strong for Bunnoe's Stephen McCooey in the Youth 1 70kg final. The Boy 4 70kg final produced the second knockout of the day when South Meath's Luke Smith was over powered by Clann Naofa's Sebastian Haczela with body blows in the second round. The all-Meath Boy 4 50kg final saw Jake Kelly (South Meath) lose to Michael Joyce (Ashbourne) by unanimous decision. Calum McConville (Dealgan) beat Alan Carragher (Collon Philipstown) in the Boy 4 48kg final when the ref stopped the contest in the first. The 46kg Boy 4 final was also stopped in the first when Hugh Nevin (Holy Family) beat Cillian Hickey (Collon Philipstown). Three of the seven Boy 3 finals went to Meath winners with Thomas Stokes (St Seachnall's) beating David Hughes (Kilmainhamwood & Kingscourt) by unanimous decision in the 46kg final. There was no such luck for Stokes' clubmate Terence McDonagh in the 57kg final when he lost to Darragh Murray (South Meath). In the 60kg decider Cian Walsh (St Cianan's) beat Jake O'Dowd (Navan) with the first KO of the day in the third. The only Boy 2 final on the card saw an impressive Blake Lacey from Navan prove too strong for St Cianan's Conor Walsh in the 39kg final when the referee stopped the fight in the final round. In the lively and entertaining Boy 1 category Brian Stokes (St Seachnall's) beat Daniel Hopkins (South Meath) by unanimous decision in the 48kg final and Ephan Donnelly (Holy Family) lost to Derek McGuire (Holy Family) by majority decision in the 42kg decider. The 39kg final was a great contest as Lee Hensey (South Meath) beat Michael Power (Navan) by unanimous decision. Luke Green (Navan) beat Caolan Duff (St Cianan's) by unanimous decision in the 33kg final and Davey Joyce (St Seachnall's) beat Eddie Gaffey (Clann Naofa) by majority decision in the opening 29kg final. In the first of two female exhibition contests 12 year old Natasha O'Reilly (South Meath) shaded the verdict against her 14 year old opponent Lia Clarke from Dunboyne with a stoppage in the second. The second girls fight saw first timer Leah Kelly (South Meath) produce an excellent show against Clann Naofa's Rebecca O'Toole who was only having her second fight. Neither fighter held back as they produced an exciting contest.