Busy season continues for Cavan ABC

With the long summer nights drawing in and most local boxing clubs coming to the end of their competitive season, the county"s premier club,the Cavan Town-based Cavan Amatuer Boxing Club continues with their busy and successful season with a number of their fighters pencilled in for international competition. The club have also been invited to renew their association with the Killinkere Festival Committee and have been invited to stage a tournament there on the Bank Holiday Monday which will feature a number of young prospects from Mick Downey"s gym in Virginia. It is hoped that the show will feature Bejing Olympian John Joe Nevin as top of the bill but the Cavan stylist must first travel to Usti in the Czech Republic this week to compete in the prestigious Grand Prix Usti na Labe Multi Nations event. This tournament will include all the top Eastern Europeans and among the entrants is Olympic gold medalist and world boxer of the year, the formidable Enkabatt from Mongolia. This is Nevin"s last major international event before the defence of hie EU title in Denmark next month. However the Cavan club are hopeful that John Joe will be freed from his high Performance commitments to appear in a low-key contest against Irish opposition. Cavan coach Brian McKeown has drawn up an eight-strong squad to travel to the US in August to compete at the Ringside World Club Championships in Kansas City. The team will begin preparations in early June when all the boxer"s championships and international commitments have been fulfilled. Already in contention for selection for the European Cadet championships to be staged in Ukraine next month are newly-crowned Cadet champions Hugh and Joe Nevin who added the cadet titles to their growing list of championship honours. At 42 kilos, Cavan"s Boxer of the Year Hugh Nevin won his fourth consecitive Irish title with an empathic 10-1 victory over Gary Cully from the St David"s club in Naas,Co Kildare. The tall and very talented Nevin was always in control against a very negative and overawed opponent and cruised to a comfortable victory. Hugh had progressed to the final with victories over Cork boy Liam Walsh and cousin David Nevin from the Ryston club in Newbridge. At 39 kilos, Joe Nevin reversed an earlier defeat bt Tom McDonagh from the St Francis club in Limerick to take the Irish title in a tight, tactical battle.It was late in the final session before Joe took a two point lead and he protected his advantage to take a third national title. The Cavan clubman moved to the final with two good wins over Athenrys Donal Ward and Ballymun"s John McDonagh on scorelines of 10-1 and 4-1 repectively. Both Hugh and clubmate Paddy Nevin travel to Helsinki, Finland this Thursday to represent Ulster at the Pyrikka multi-nations event and at the end of the month both Hugh and Joe will be in Waterford to represent Ireland against England in a schoolboy international. Cavan had further success at the National Stadium in Dublin on Saturday when 16-year-old Ceire Smith upset the formbook at the semi-final stage of the national Junior Under 19 championships with an impressive second round stoppage of Ulster champion Sarah Jane McLoughlin from the Lioghoneil club in Belfast. The well-known Redhills camogie player and student at Cavan Vocational College turned in a very impressive display against a strong and aggressive opponent that drew favourable response from many of the country"s top coaches. The Belfast girl"s fast start saw her move into a two-point lead early in the opening session but Smith"s more polished skills saw her claw back the deficit and she led 6-2 at the end of the first. Ceire sat down on her shots in the second and clearly hurt her opponent on a number of occasions and the referee intervened to save the Belfast girl from further punishment after she had taken two counts and trailed 14-2 on the computer score. This is Smith"s fourth consecitive victory since her controversial Irish Under 16 defeat and she approaches Saturday"s final against an opponent from Wexford in a mood of quiet confidence. While a victory would place her in contention for selection for the European juniors to be staged in Croatia this summer, given her youth and relative inexperience the Cavan coaching team feel it will be more beneficial in the long term to hold her back and send her to the Ringside tournament in th USA instead to pick up a bit of international experience add assist her development. The Cavan club are one of the most progressive and successful clubs in Ireland just now and with record numbers in training at their Railway Road gym they are now forced to hold three training sessions daily under coach Brian McKeown, who is confident that success will continue and many more champions will emerge from his proteges.