St. Joseph's ABC trio on their way to All-Ireland finals

St. Joseph’s ABC’s three Ulster champions are now setting their sights on the National Stadium in Dublin and All-Ireland titles in just a few weeks.

Tony Cox, 39 kilos, Joe Cunningham, 63 kilos, and Fionn Duffy, 64 kilos have started 2023 in superb form and are now hoping to take it to the next level against the best in the country in five weeks’ time.

Cox, just 14 years old, has qualified for the All-Irelands through Northwest zones, then by winning the Ulster 9-County Novices Championships earlier this year. He got through last week’s Ulster Championships on a walkover and is already working hard in preparation for Dublin.

The Ulster Championships, held in Newtonstewart last week, brought the best out of Cunningham. Joe, a beaten finalist in last year’s All-Irelands in Dublin, certainly made a statement by knocking his opponent out in the first round of his Ulster final.

Duffy meanwhile, won the 9-County Open Championships earlier in the year, stopping his opponent in the third round before winning the Northwest zones in Dunfanaghy the week before last week’s Ulster Championships. In the Ulster final he won via unanimous decision, on a 5-0 scoreline.

As a result, he has also been selected for the Ulster team which will travel to Scotland for five days this coming St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

It has been a good week at St. Joseph’s, and Head Coach Cahair Duffy believes the hard work put in by the three young fighters is now paying off.

“Tony is a good pressure fighter who gives his all and he has done very well,” he said. “Joe is a boxer. He is quite skillful and he can punch well. It’s not often you knock your opponent out in the final, especially at that young age, but he carries a bit of a punch. He doesn’t rely on that because he is a nice boxer with a good skill set, so hopefully everything goes well and he gets a good run of it in Dublin.

“Fionn has also done very well and he has been selected to go to Scotland this weekend. The team consists of Ulster Senior Elite champions, Ulster Senior champions and U18 champions and he is chuffed with that.”

St. Joseph’s performed very well overall at the Ulsters with Dara Coyle and Cayden Boyle also coming close. Coyle, 57 kilos, lost out to the eventual champion in the semi-final, while Boyle, 63 kilos, was unlucky to lose out in his final.

“All in all, those two lads are relatively inexperienced at that level so for them to get there they have done extremely well and we’re over the moon with them. We’re delighted with their progress in such a short time,” Cahir explained.

“With Covid and stuff like that it has taken us a while to get things going again, but the numbers are good in the club and there’s a good buzz about the place. We had five boxers in the Ulsters, four in the finals and three champions.

“There’s good momentum in the club and there are a good range of different ages; there are a good few young boys coming through and some older boys have come in and decided to have a go. It’s all looking good at the minute.”

Cahir is now optimistic of the club’s chances in the All-Ireland Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin next month.

“Absolutely. It’s tough coming out of Ulster,” he continued. “It obviously gets harder when you get to Dublin because the standard is very high in Ireland at this time, but the big thing is getting out of Ulster, and if you can do that and get down to Dublin, anything can happen. The three boys are definitely up to the task and they have an extra few weeks now to prepare.”