FRANCIE BARRETT from the Olympic Club ill Galway was beaten in his attempt to become Irish welterweight champion in the National Stadium in Dublin last night.
In an extraordinary finish Barrett and Billy Cowan from the Monkstown club in Belfast finished level at 10 points each after five two-minute rounds but on a countback on the computerised system, Cowan was given the verdict by 48 points to 47.
It was quite the best bout of the night up until then and Cowan now goes on to meet the former champion, Neil Gough from the St Paul's club in Waterford who beat Sean Barrett from the Rylane club in Cork on a score of 15-11.
Yet it was Francie Barrett's defeat which was the main talking point of the evening as the semifinals were decided in 10 different weights. Cowan, who was taller with a longer reach, troubled Barrett from the start and yet the young Galway man could manage to win the first round only by three points to two.
In the second round he began to find his range and ended up six points to three ahead but although, he boxed relentlessly in the third and fourth round he was only one point ahead going into the last.
At this stage Barrett began to show signs of fatigue after a heavy schedule of boxing which has already qualified him for the English championships later this month and when he took a swinging right hook from Cowan halfway through the round, the possibility of a shock result emerged more clearly.
At bantamweight, Damaen Kelly from the Holy Trinity club in Belfast started slowly and trailed by a point at the end of the first round but once he got into his stride against the impressive Willie Valentine from the Saviour's club in Dublin, Kelly's experience began to tell and he was adjudged at the end to have won by 28-12.
