Blaney's national title on countback

Boxer Chris Blaney made it a magnificent seven national titles when he edged out his opponent in the 71kgs final in the National u-21 Championships at Dublin's National Stadium on Friday night. Blaney, who is now 17 and lives in Wilkinstown, won his first national title when he was just 11 years of age. He picked up his seventh on Friday when he defeated Brian Brosnan from the Olympic club in Galway. The Navan Boxing Club member had to dig deep to overcome his opponent from the west in a bout that swung one way then the other before the Meath youngster emerged victorious. Blaney's achievement is even more impressive as Brosnan is three years his senior. The Galway boxer was defeated in the final last year and won the title in 2007. At the end of the first round on Friday night Blaney trailed 0-1, after the second he led 4-3. At the end of the third he was behind 4-5 however, by the end of the fourth and final round the score was 6-6. The bout went to a countback with Blaney winning 13-12. "My opponent caused me problems early on, I wasn't sure how to handle him at the start, but I just got into it," Blaney told the Meath Chronicle. "My father advised me to come out fighting, I had nothing to lose and that's what I did," added Blaney who is a student in O'Carolan College, Nobber. Earlier this year Blaney, who boxes with an orthodox style, won a gold medal at a six nations tournament in Ukraine, defeating an Australian in the final. Blaney is coached at Navan BC by George Gibney and his father Chris Blaney with Donal Barrett and Richie Meade also involved in showing the youngster the finer points of the sport governed by the Marquess of Queensberry rules. Gibney says that the youngster needed to change his strategy after he fell behind to Brosnan in the final. "Christopher had to change his style and he took the fight to his opponent then. Christopher is very hard to beat because once he goes behind, he's a better fighter, you get more out of him then, once he goes behind he's easy to motivate. He's a crafty fighter, he has a very good boxing brain," he added. Blaney will be looking to make a step up when he takes part in the National Intermediate championships which take place later this month. Locally, the Louth/Meath Boxing Championships have been scheduled for Navan next Sunday, 8th November.