Tredagh boxers take Manchester by storm with terrific medal tally

Irish Independent

11 hours ago

Among the local boxers entered were Sasha Donica, Adam Walsh, PJ McCullough, Simon McDonagh, Emma O'Gorman, Ceejay Sheelan, Cian Smyth, Keith Muma, James Hackett and Jamie Campbell, and while the primary focus was on performance in the ring, this experience also provided invaluable international competition exposure, team building, personal development and, most importantly, a weekend of enjoyment and camaraderie that these young athletes will never forget.
On the Saturday, Sasha Donica embarked on his first ever bout against an experienced English boxer and gave a great account of himself over the three rounds.
It was close, with the Englishman having his hand raised in the end, but it was great experience for Sasha whose opponent went on to win the Box Cup. A
Adam Walsh boxed a good, tall boxer from England in his semi-final, and after an uneventful first round Adam turned up the heat in the second and especially the third to get the win and progress to Sunday's finals with a fantastic display.
P.J Mc Cullough boxed English opposition in his semi-final, and after a close first round PJ upped the gears in the second and third. In the view of the Tredagh camp he looked to have won convincingly, only for the decision to go to his opponent who went on to win the Box Cup.
Charlie Flannagan boxed an English international and gave a great account of himself over the three rounds. In a bout that could have gone either way the Englishman's hand was raised at the end of a high-quality contest which proved how well Charlie is progressing. Again, the winner of that bout went on to win the Box Cup.
In his bout Simon Mc Donagh was giving away a lot on height and experience. Despite this Simon worked hard and his best round was the second, but nevertheless his English opponent got the win and also went on to capture the Box Cup.
Keith Muma had three hotly contested rounds with opposition from Northern Ireland, boxed brilliantly and had his hand raised to progress to the final.
In Sunday's finals, first up for Tredag was Ceejay Sheelan who boxed a very experienced Great Britain boxer.
Ceejay had his man on the back foot throughout the three rounds and caught his opponent with some sizzling combinations in a very high calibre contest. The verdict deservingly went to Ceejay to crown him s a Manchester Box Cup champion for 2025.
Next up was Emma O'Gorman who had three fantastic rounds with a tall opponent from Ireland.
Emma stayed on the front foot throughout and her hard-hitting backhand cross was significant over the three rounds. At the end she too was crowned as a Manchester Box Cup champion for 2025.
Next up was Keith Muma who boxed a tall southpaw English opponent and this was another high-calibre contest in which Keith boxed very well technically. The Tredagh corner felt he won two of the three rounds, but in the end it was the Englishman's hand that was raised on a split decision.
In his final young Adam Walsh boxed an Irish opponent who had looked very impressive in his semi-final the day before.
However, Adam gave a masterclass display, technically outboxed his opponent for all three rounds and got stronger and stronger as the fight progressed.
The final verdict was a unanimous decision in his favour to crown him as a Manchester Box Cup champion for 2025.
There were still three more finals for the Tredagh contingent and next up was Jamie Campbell who boxed a tall, experienced English boxer in what proved to be an exciting three-round clash.
Jamie landed some hard-hitting backhands and body shots throughout, but the English boxer had successes too and his hand was raised at the end.
Cian Smyth was up against a tall, strong boxer from England and this was another fantastic contest, with the English fighter starting each round strong with hard-hitting shots.
But young Cian rose to the occasion and mixed his technical skills and his own hard-hitting shots to wear down his opponent. His inside work to the body and vast array of punching combinations were particularly eye-catching and ultimately it was a unanimous points decision in Cian's favour - another Manchester Box Cup title for Tredagh.
Last up for the local club was James Hackett who faced an experienced English boxer.
The first round was a technical affair, with the English boxer perhaps just edging it, and his experience really showed in round two, forcing James to dig deep to stay in the bout.
It was now or never for James in the third and in thrilling fashion he went for the stoppage, catching his opponent with a shot which put him on the canvas.
James smelled blood and stalked his opponent for the whole round, landing some menacing backhand crosses.The English boxer barely survived the round, but the final verdict was a split decision in his favour and that left Tredagh with an impressive tally of five gold and three silver medals from the tournament.
Back in Ireland Cara Evans was crowned as a Monkstown International Box Cup champion in a competition where she has won best female boxer in years gone by.
Four more Tredagh boxers took part in non-decision skills bouts at the Monkstown tournament in the packed-out National Stadium in Dublin - a fantastic experience for Tommy McCooey, Emma Carter, Roisin Evans and Shay McIllarney and their first step on their competitive journey.
Meanwhile, fellow Tredagh boxer Jack Newman won a gold medal at the Senior Manchester Box Cup recently, and following on from her ninth All-Ireland success Grace Conway is attend High Performance Training in Abbotstown with the national squad.