Raphoe ABC’s Cody Lafferty begins her bid for glory at the National Girls Senior Cadet Championships on Friday night.
Lafferty, a former Irish Girls champion, is in quarter-final action at 46kgs as she faces Andrea Leer from Castleblaney.
In this year’s Girl 5 Championships, for which she was a late entrant, the Ballindrait dynamo (above, left) punched at 48kgs, but has dropped to 46kgs, a more natural weight for the Raphoe ABC boxer.
In 2014, Lafferty became Raphoe’s first Irish champion in 21 years when she overcame Fiona O’Keefe of Rathkeale to win the Girl 1 title. It was the Raphoe club’s first national title since Danny Ryan collected the Irish senior middleweight crown in 1993.
Another Raphoe boxer, Leah Gallen – this year’s Irish Girl 5 champion at 66kgs – has also entered the Cadet Championships at 66kgs, but has by-passed the quarter-final phase of the draw.
The tournament will be run over the next two weekends due to the Pope’s visit to Dublin on August 24/25 and interruptions to major roads.
The IABA are using the Senior Cadets as part of the selection process for the upcoming European Boys and Girls Junior Championships in Anapa, Russia (October 8/17).
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