Boxers Prepare for All-Irelands

          Two boxers from the Loughrea boxing club will compete this week at the National Stadium, Dublin, which is the home of Irish amateur boxing. They are representing Connacht at the national juvenile championships. Local lad, Matthew Connelly is son of club coach and judge Martin, who will be with the lads in Dublin. Matthew will box in the Boy3 44Kg division. The other representative is Robert Kerins who hails from Killamoran in Gort. Robert will box in the Boy 2 50Kg division.
          On the local scene, the club finished off the current season at the Ballinasloe tournament on Good Friday evening. The club had three winners, the only loss being debutante John Ward just losing out to Pat Ward from Ballinasloe. The most eagerly awaited clash of the tournament was the return match between Darragh Broderick, Loughrea and Edward Corcoran, Ballinasloe. When the met at the Galway championships, history was created when the ended up even on the computer scoring system. This was the first time this happened in Galway since computer scoring was introduced eight years ago. Broderick however got the nod from the judges on the old jury scoring system. On this occasion, things were a lot different. Corcoran, with the huge local support behind him, tried to overpower Broderick from the start. This only played into the hands of the more skilful Broderick, who ended up winning on double scores. The other winners for Loughrea were Finian O Toole and Ted Mongan. O Toole, who was having his first contest against the more experienced Martin Mongan from Ballinasloe, won all three rounds easily. He used his good footwork and reach advantage over the stockier Mongan. The last winner of the evening for Loughrea was Ted Mongan. Ted has had a great year and used his strong punching to outscore the fast moving Joe Joyce from Lanesboro.