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Boxing: Cacace's starting out on a year of great expectations

By David Kelly

07 November 2006

Anthony Cacace is a young man with a growing reputation.

In 55 amateur contests this 17-year-old has lost only four and three of those defeats have been avenged.

The other came in June in the Irish under-19 championships in Dublin when he was controversially beaten by the reigning Irish senior champion John Joe Joyce.

It is little wonder that veteran coach Patsy McAllister believes he has a star in his Oliver Plunkett gym.

And McAllister believes Cacace is only one out of half-a-dozen, with the likes of Tommy McCarthy, Tyrone McKenna and Eamonn Finnegan also making fine progress.

Cacace, whose father Antonio hails from Sorrento, Italy, steps up to intermediate level on the opening night of the Ulster Championships in the Dockers Club this evening and the seniors are also on his radar, in January.

The three-time Four Nations gold medallist - most recently in the summer - faces Clonoe's Ronan McCann in his opening lightweight contest.

McAllister said: "He's a great kid, a lad who is very disciplined. He's won five Irish titles and three Four Nations titles and I have very high hopes for him.

"I don't say this lightly but from the moment he laced up a pair of gloves at the age of 11 I thought he could be a bit special.

"Now he's stepping up from the youths and that's a big challenge but I believe that he's ready and we plan to let him go for the seniors."

Tonight's contests:

Featherweight: Sean Magee (Ligoniel) Vs Paul Barbour (Omagh Boys); Ben McCullagh (Illies G.G.) Vs Mark Ginley (Oliver Plunkett)

Lightweight: Ronan McCann (Clonoe) Vs Anthony Cacace (Oliver Plunkett); Stephen Valliday (Clonard) Vs Patrick Magee (Ligoniel)

Light-heavyweight: Tommy Copeland (Ligoniel) Vs Eddie Duffy (Carrigart); Daniel Brown (Braid) Vs Ed Wallace (Dungloe)

Welterweight: Chris McCann (Clonard) Vs Ryan Tracy (St. Joseph's, Derry); John Trainor (Springhill) Vs Martin Cunningham (St. Bridgets, Down)

Light-welterweight: Patrick Gallagher (Gleann) Vs Chris Nicholl (All Saints); Adrian McCann (Clonoe) Vs Rory McShane (Dunloe)

Light-middleweight: Martin Lynch (Illies G.G.) Vs Noel McCarron (Carrigart)

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Belfast Telegraph Home > Sport > General

Boxing: Class act Cacace sets up big clash with Magee

By David Kelly

08 November 2006

ULSTER INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Anthony Cacace was the class act on opening night of the Ulster Intermediate championships.

Cacace caught the eye in the Dockers Club with a smooth, sharp shooting display, forcing Ronan McCann to retire at the end of the second round of their lightweight contest.

Cacace of Oliver Plunkett showed off his full repertoire of punches and McCann was simply bewildered by the speed and accuracy.

Cacace was hitting McCann at will in the second round, unloading some fine corkscrew uppercuts and the Clonoe corner were right to end his misery.

Cacace now meets Patrick Magee this evening in a mouthwatering quarter-final clash.

Magee, a former Antrim Intermediate champion, edged out Clonard's Stephen Valliday, who was given a count just before the final bell.

Magee was given a 20-14 decision but it seemed a little closer than that as Valliday was quite accurate with his straight lefts and rights.

The contest sparked into life in the second round and there were some good exchanges throughout with Ligoniel man Magee just hitting that little bit harder.

Ligoniel enjoyed a hat-trick of victories as featherweight Sean Magee defeated Paul Barbour of Omagh Boys 28-17.

That set up another Ligoniel-Oliver Plunkett clash as Mark Ginley was simply too strong for Ben McCullagh of Illies, winning 28-7.

The treble was completed when light-heavyweight Tommy Copeland stopped Eddie Duffy of Carrigart in the first round.

Meanwhile, the finals will now be held on November 17 in the Dockers Club.

Other results:

81kg: Ed Wallace (Dungloe) bt Daniel Brown (Braid) rtd3

67kg: Ryan Tracy (St Joseph's, Derry) bt Chris McCann (Clonard) 28-16; Martin Cunningham (St Bridget's, Down) bt .John Trainor (Springhill) 18-2.

64kg: Patrick Gallagher (Gleann) WO; Adrian McCann (Clonoe) bt Rory McShane (Letterkenny) 25-5.

71kg: Martin Lynch (Illies GG) bt Noel McCarron (Carrigart) rsc2.

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Boxing: Ginley sets up final clash with Owens

By David Kelly

09 November 2006

Mark Ginley made it two wins in two nights at the Ulster Intermediates.

Last night Ginley moved through to the featherweight final with an entertaining 20-11 victory over Ligoniel's Sean Magee.

Oliver Plunkett lad Ginley impressed once again in the Dockers Club with his smart, straight punching.

Magee brought plenty of fire to the proceedings but Ginley always seemed to have the edge over the four rounds.

The Oliver Plunkett lad seems to be improving with every contest and he will now meet Cathal Owens of Glenard in next Friday night's decider.

Owens was too strong for Clonoe's Ben Mulligan, winning 18-5.

Stephen O'Reilly of Twintowns also impressed last night as he moved through to the semi-finals of the light-middleweight division.

O'Reilly, who recently picked up the under-21 title, led 9-2 after the second round before forcing Fergal Hargan of St Canices to take a count in the third round.

O'Reilly was now totally dominant and Hargan's corner wisely retired him at the end of the round.

Tonight in the Dockers Club O'Reilly will clash with Gerard Gilmore of Abbey for a place in next week's final.

Gilmore and Mark Tracey of Mark Heagney battled for four competitive rounds with the Abbey man edging it 11-7.

Michael Kelly of Immaculata eased into the final of the flyweight division with a second round stoppage of Springhill's Michael Convery.

Kelly will now meet Ciaran McConville of Banbridge in the final.

There is a straight final at bantamweight when Antrim Intermediate champion Mark McCullough meets Michael Connor of Holy Family.

Another recent Co Antrim champion Padraig McCrory of St Johns won in emphatic fashion last night as he stopped Shane Devlin of St Canice's in a round.

McCrory will meet the winner of tonight's other middleweight semi-final between Paul Ferguson of Ring and Keady's Liudas Sakalis.

Sakalis, from Lithuania, enjoyed a second round stoppage win over Shane Convery of Draperstown.

Ferguson impressed as he outpointed Cavan's Hugh Nevin 22-17.

Tonight's semi-finals (8pm):

81kg: Peter Papp (Draperstown) v Gary O'Brien (Abbey); Tommy Copeland (Ligoniel) v Ed Wallace (Dungloe).

91kg: Colm Caulfield (Castleblayney) v Stephen Cunningham (St Bridget's).

67kg: Sean McShane (Dungloe) v Charles O'Donnell (Illies); Ryan Tracy (St Joseph's Derry) v Martin Cunningham (St Bridget's).

71kg: Martin Lynch (Illies) v Colm McCrory (Immaculata); Gerard Gilmore (Abbey) v Stephen O'Reilly (Twintowns).

64kg: Kevin McIntyre (St Joseph's Derry) v John Caldwell (Carrigart); Patrick Gallagher (Gleann) v Adrian McCann (Clonoe).

75kg: Paul Ferguson (Ring) v Liudas Sakalis (Keady).

81kg: Stephen McMonagle (Twintowns) v Pat Gallagher (St John Bosco, Donegal).

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Belfast Telegraph Home > Sport > General

Boxing: Twintowns suffering at the hands of the judges
By David Kelly

10 November 2006

There was joy and pain for the Twintowns club last night in the Dockers club.

Light-middleweight Stephen O'Reilly gave them a perfect start with his third round stoppage of Abbey's Gerard Gilmore in their Ulster Intermediate semi-final clash.

But in the final contest of the evening O'Reilly's clubmate Stephen McMonagle suffered a dreadful decision when outpointed 16-14 by Pat Gallagher of St John Bosco, Donegal.

After four entertaining rounds in this cruiserweight semi-final McMonagle seemed a clear winner and Twintowns coach Eunan Devanney was left stunned by the verdict.

"That's a very, very poor decision, the kind of decision that brings the sport down. Something has to be done about decisions like that," said Devanney.

Classy O'Reilly stood out from the rest last night and will start favourite against Martin Lynch of Illies in next Friday's final.

Lynch also impressed with a third round stoppage of Colm McCorry, whose Immaculata coach Nugget Nugent was pleading with him to "box and move".

Instead he was sucked into a toe-to-toe duel and Lynch made him pay with some tremendous body punching.

Lynch's clubmate Charles O'Donnell edged a quality contest with Sean McShane of Dungloe at welterweight 19-16.

In the opening two rounds there was very little between the two but in the third and fourth it seemed that O'Donnell was landing the cleaner bursts of punches and he deserved the decision.

Lithuanian Liudas Sakalis of Keady ABC secured his place in the middleweight final, simply proving too strong for Paul Ferguson of Ring, winning 32-18.

Sakalis edged the opening round with his crisp hooks and maintained the pressure in the second, forcing the Derry man to take a count. Ferguson found an extra gear in the third and seemed to be getting back into the contest but Sakalis was back on top in the final round.

Ferguson's cornerman Charlie Nash was sent from the corner in the fourth round, while Ferguson had to take another count.

Other results:

64kg: Adrian McCann (Clonoe) bt Patrick Gallagher (Gleann) 19-15; Kevin McIntyre (St Joseph's Derry) bt John Caldwell (Carrigart) rtd3.

81kg: Tommy Copeland (Ligoneil) bt Gary O'Brien (Abbey) 28-10.

91kg: Stephen Cunningham (St Bridget's) bt Colm Caulfield (Castleblaney) 15-5.

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Belfast Telegraph Home > Sport > General

Boxing: McCullough and McAllister now have double vision

By David Kelly

17 November 2006

Mark McCullough is aiming to complete a double at the Patsy Quinn Ulster Intermediate finals tonight.

The Dockers Club should be packed for the finals, which would seem to offer some encouragement to those - in the majority - who believe that standards have dropped in recent years.

McCullough, just turned 17, is one of those who brings optimism with his smooth, sharp shooting skills.

The Shankill Road man cruised to the Co Antrim Intermediate title last month and is favourite to make a bantamweight brace this evening.

The former Karate competitor takes on Michael Connor of Holy Family, who certainly cannot be discounted as he has the fundamental skills to test most at this level.

But McCullough should edge this one with his speed and accuracy.

Oliver Plunkett coach Patsy McAllister is looking for a double of his own.

Plunkett looks after the highly promising Anthony Cacace, who up to this point in the championships has along with Stephen O'Reilly of Twintowns been the most eye-catching performer.

Cacace is bidding the lightweight title and should have few problems against McCullough's Cairnlodge team-mate Glenn Smyth.

Cacace's clubmate Mark Ginley will be hoping to put his reach to good use when he takes on Cathal Owens of Glenard in the featherweight decider.

Ginley has clearly developed over the past 12 months and may well edge it tonight.

As for O'Reilly, he is in a mouthwatering light-middleweight clash with Martin Lynch of Illies Golden Gloves.

O'Reilly has already landed the Irish under-21 title this year and while Lynch will match him for strength it is expected the Twintowns man's handspeed will swing the contest his way.

Another man shooting for a double is Padraig McCrory of St John's who meets Lithuanian Liudas Sakalis in the middleweight final.

McCrory, who won the Antrim Intermediate title with victory over Joe Hillerby, should make it his second successive title against the Keady ABC man.

Finals:

Light-Flyweight: Ciaran O'Neill (Dromore) v Christopher McPeak (Springhill)

Flyweight: Ciaran McConville (Banbridge) v Michael Kelly (Immaculata).

Bantamweight: Mark McCullough ( Cairnlodge) v Michael Connor (Holy Family G.G.)

Featherweight: Cathal Owens (Glenard) v Mark Ginley (Oliver Plunkett)

Lightweight: Glenn Smyth (Cairnlodge) v Anthony Cacace (Oliver Plunkett)

Light-welterweight: Adrian McCann (Clonoe) v Kevin McIntyre (St. Joseph's, Derry)

Welterweight: Charles O'Donnell (Illies G.G) v Ryan Tracy (St. Joseph's,Derry)

Light-middleweight: Martin Lynch (Illies G.G.) v Stephen O'Reilly (Twintowns)

Middleweight: Padraig McCrory (St. John's) v Liudas Sakalis (Keady)

Light-heavyweight: Tommy Copeland (Ligoniel) v Ed Wallace (Dungloe)

Heavyweight: Danny Tourish (Twintowns) Vs Stephen Cunningham (St. Bridgets, Down)

Cruiserweight: Keelan Kelly (St. Mary's, Derry) v Patrick Gallagher (St. J.Bosco, Donegal)

Super-heavyweight: Darren O'Kane (Enniskillen) Walkover

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