Darren Sutherland takes gold at Multi Nations Tournament in Finland

IRISH AMATEUR BOXING ASSOCIATION
"Irish boxers win one gold,four silver and one bronze medal in Helsinki"
 
 
The Irish Amateur Boxing Association will be taking home one gold,four silver and one bronze medal from the GeeBee Senior Multi Nations in Finland following a day of mixed fortunes for the  five Irish boxers in action in this afternoons (April15th) finals in Helsinki.
 
Middleweight Darren Sutherland, from the St Saviours club in Dublin, finished on top of the podium, but there were reversals for Ryan Lindberg (Immaculata) Conor Ahern (Baldoyle) John Sweeney (Dungloe) and Cathal McMonagle (Holy Trinity).
 
Sutherland, ranked number three in Europe, comfortably outclassed Finland's Niko Jokinen winning (38-17),but flyweight Conor Ahern was beaten (41-11) by Italian Olympian Vincento Picardi.
 
Heavyweight Sweeney was also beaten by an Italian,Clemente Russo, (34-9), while bantamweight Ryan Lindberg lost out 30-10 to Bulgarian Detelin Dalaklieu-who beat David Oliver Joyce in last years final.
 
Super heavyweight Cathal McMonagle performed magnificently to reach today's final beating  Bulgarian Olympian and European bronze medallist Kubrat Pulev in Fridays nights semi final.
 
But the Holy Trinity ace had to be content with silver after he lost his 91Kg+ decider (31-6) to Finnish Olympian Robert Helenius.
 
On Friday evening featherweight David Oliver Joyce (St Michael's Athy), beat Scot Darren Traynor to guarantee himself at least bronze but suffered a  hand injury en route to recording a  third round stoppage and was withdrawn from the tournament as a precaution.
 
Golden Cobra light welterweight Aodh Carlyle,and Kieran Bates (St Mary' Dublin), bowed out  following defeats to 2006 European champion Boris Georgiev from Bulgaria, and  two times Polish Olympian Krzysztof Szott.
 
Speaking after today's finals, Gary Keegan, who directs  the Irish Amateur Boxing Associations High Performance Unit,  said they ere very pleased with the medal haul considering the injury problems they have at the moment.
 
He said "Darren boxed very well to win gold and I am very impressed with the displays of John Sweeney and Cathal McMonagle in the heavyweight and super heavyweight section especially when you consider their relative inexperience at international level.
 
"Young Ryan Lindbergs performance in Helsinki was another massive plus as he was boxing some very experienced internationals.
 
"We are very pleased with the performances in Helsinki especially in light of the fact that two of our best boxers Ken Egan and Roy Sheehan are out injured at the moment.
 
"We also had to withdraw David Oliver Joyce because he picked up a hand injury and it is conceivable that if we had Ken and Roy available, and David didn't pick up his injury, that we could have had eight boxers in today's finals.
 
"We are now looking ahead to the Cadets tournament in Azerbaijan and the Chemistry Cup senior Multi Nations
in Germany in May."
 
Fifteen Irish boxers have reached the finals of top senior and junior Multi Nations tournaments in Europe since the start of 2007. The 20 point rule was not in operation at today's GeeBee Multi Nations finals.
 
See also RTE Sports website
 
 
Irish squad and management for 2007 GeeBee Senior Multi Nations
 
51Kg: Conor Ahern, (Baldoyle,Dublin),
54Kg: Ryan Lindberg (Immculata,Belfast),
57Kg: David Oliver Joyce (St Michael's Athy),
60Kg: Kieran Bates (St Mary's, Dublin),
64Kg: Aodh Carlyle (Golden Cobra,Dublin),
75Kg: Darren Sutherland (St Saviours OBA, Dublin),
91Kg: John Sweeney (Dungloe,Donegal),
91+Kg: Cathal McMonagle (Holy Trinity, Belfast).
 
Team Manager:Paul McMahon,
Coaches:Billy Walsh and Zaur Antia,
R&J: Thomas McGaharan,
Physio:Brian O'Connell.
 
 
 
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