Smith makes history with seventh Elite national title

Cavan boxer Ceire Smith’s Olympic aspirations are still very much alive and after comfortably negotiating her way through the Irish Elite championships, the qualifiers for Tokyo 2020 are the final hurdle in what has been a fairytale return to the sport. 
Smith not only won her seventh Elite crown but made a little bit of boxing history by winning all her titles in the same 51kg division.
Southpaw Ceire never lost a round in her two contests in which she displayed all her experience and ring savvy to see off the challenge of a couple of young, hungry and ambitious foes. In the semi, the scores were  30-24 x3,30-23 and a 29-28 which was way off and makes one wonder what fight that judge was watching and raised a few eyebrows at the standard expected at Irelands major championships. 
The Ballyhaise lady quickly settled an aggressive start from Hayes and boxing well within herself eased to a comfortable points decision.
Friday’s final saw former World junior silver medalist and the opponent that Ceire defeated in her last Irish final coming out of the red corner and Niamh Early from Ryston BC was expected to give Ceire a real battle.
However the Kildare boxer surprised everyone by refusing to engage the Cavan puncher and instead of going toe to toe went on the back foot and attempt to counter the strong, aggressive and powerful Smith. 
These tactics had limited success early in the opener but the workrate and power of the Cavan southpaw quickly extinguished Early’s ambition with Ceire taking a tight round with a strong finish.
Cautious of Smith’s reputed power, the Ryston girl refused to engage and this left the Cavan boxer to control the pace and dominate rounds two and three to take a very comfortable unanimous decision on scorelines 30-27 x 4 and a 29-28.
This was a terrific achievement for Ceire after an injury-ravaged couple of years first with medical problems then with a career-ending threat with a severe shoulder injury which ruled her out of last year’s championships and shattered her Tokyo ambitions. 
One tough young woman Ceire bit her gumshield and with hard work, commitment, belief and lots of courage fought her way back to feature in both the recent European and World Championships with very little sparring or ring action in preparation and yet took the defending world champion to a very tight and controversial 3-2 majority decision.
Cavan coach Brian McKeown remains very positive in his protegé’s Olympic qualifiers and sees the four-month interval between now and the first event in London next March as a bonus. 
The left shoulder is getting stronger all the time and with Ceire a big hitting southpaw, her back hand is where she carries the heavy artillery. 
“We approached the comeback route with caution not only in competition but also in the gym and at times we felt we were on a wing and a prayer and reluctant to let the big ones go but things are improving all the time and her distance, timing and ringwork are all good and her competition performances have been outstanding,” said McKeown.
“A short break now and then Ceire returns to the High Performance unit to begin an intense build-up to London with a number of training camps abroad planned while on the club front an assault on the Ulster Elites with clubmate heavyweight Thomas Maughan in January is an option for a bit of competition and an opportunity to shed some ring rust.”
Meanwhile, a welcome visitor to the Cavan gym this week will be John Joe Nevin who will be taking over his belt for photos with the young boxers and who knows, may even be in a position to reveal his next contest.