Boxing:Ken Egan believes his win at yesterday's Unseeded Open Elite Competition will be enough to secure ticket for the upcoming AIBA World Championships and Olympic qualifiers in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The 2008 Olympic silver medalist and three-time EU champion beat Antrim's Stephen Ward, a silver medal winner for Northern Ireland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, 13-5 in the heavyweight final at Dublin's National Stadium.
Except for being caught with a solid right in the first, this was a comfortable win for the Neilstown BC southpaw.
"I have a sore left hand but it’s nothing to worry about. I’m nearly sure I’ll be on the team. I don’t care about anyone else. If they sent just me to Azerbaijan I’ll be happy.
I think I am after earning my place on the plane by now,” said Egan. "I’ll have to focus on putting on a bit of weight. I’d like to sit around 88Kg or 89 kgs and then I’d be able to come down to 85Kg for the World Series calendar."
Roy Sheehan's resurgence in form continued at the home of Irish boxing at the weekend following his 14-10 victory over Michael O'Reilly in the welterweight final. The lead changed hands twice in this 69Kg duel, as teenager O'Reilly, one of the brightest prospect in Irish boxing, claimed the first round by one point before Sheehan edged ahead going down the final stretch.
"I’m glad I came out on top. I trained very hard for this. I was out for the last three years with a broken hand and this is my first time fully fit and hopefully it will
get better from here on. This is the best I’ve fought since the (2007) World Championships in Chicago,” said Sheehan.
Current and former Elite champs Ross Hickey and Tyrone McCullagh, both European bronze medalists, also won Saturday, and 2009 Euro youth champ Jason Quigley beat Stephen O'Reilly in an all-Donegal derby. Multiple Irish and EU champ David Oliver Joyce, a team-mate of Sheehan's at St Michael's Athy, came out on top against Mark O'Hara, and also has his eyes on Baku.
"Hopefully, that’s my ticket booked now for the Olympic qualifier. After the seniors I had to look forward and not backward. I was looking forward to this one. The last box-off I had I wasn’t really training.
This one I trained hard for," he said.