DCU came away with five medals after a hugely successful Irish Athletic Third Level Boxing Association Championships at the National Boxing Stadium, Dublin on Wednesday, March 16th.
Conor Smyth, Faolan Rahill, Shane Fitzgerald and Jake Duggan won their bouts to claim gold while Shane Carter was beaten on a split decision by Jacob Marrar of Institute of Technology Tallaght and had to settle for a silver medal.
Conor Smyth was winner by unanimous decision in his bout at 81kg (12st 10lbs) while Shane Fitzgerald overcame his DCU teammate Stefan Stroe by unanimous decision to guarantee his medal as Troe received DCU’s fifth and final medal in the colour of silver.
Faolan Rahill was a winner by technical knockout (TKO) in the second round but was overshadowed by Jake Duggan who beat his opponent David McSweeney of Waterford Institute of Technology by TKO in the first round to claim the beginners’ 57kg (8st 13lbs) gold medal.
Speaking to The College View Jake Duggan said he “was and wasn’t surprised” that DCU came out with one of their most successful medal hauls in the competition.
“2014 had been the most successful year at the Intervarsities for DCU Boxing but most of the 2014 team had graduated or were unable to train due to INTRA last year so we were almost building up a new team from scratch in 2015.
“Having trained and competed last year we all gained a lot of experience which we could bring into the ring this year. That’s why the medal haul was so high in 2016,” Duggan added.
Duggan won his fight by knockout, his first TKO ever and said it’s “one of hopefully many to come” but is not getting ahead of himself just yet.
“Going forward I hope to continue boxing for DCU and keep the momentum of the Intervarsities going.
“We’re hosting The Darren Sutherland Memorial, a fight night in The Venue, so my immediate ambition will be to get a good result in front of the home crowd,” Duggan said.
Trained by Terry Keegan and Derek Ahern the gold medalist was quick to praise the two men who helped to get a relatively inexperienced set of boxers to a level where they can compete and win in these competitions.
“I have to say, Terry and Derek are brilliant trainers and we could not have done it without them, they pushed us hard even from the early stages.
“With the work that Derek and Terry put in, you felt yourself going from strength to strength each week. You couldn’t find two better men to be in your corner,” Duggan explained.
Of course these six medalists weren’t the only members of the team, many were unable to get a fight on the day while Joey Murphy was beaten in the preliminaries.
Up next for Jake Duggan and his teammates is the Darren Sutherland Memorial night on Monday, April 11th. The card consists of 10 fights, all of which are three rounds.
Cormac O’Shea
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