JP O'Meara - Hooks

Hooks ABC’s national semi-finalists have been urged to learn from their defeated team-mate JP O’Meara when they box for places in the final this weekend.

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Billy Dunne and Billy Fanneran both edged through to the last four of the National Schools’ Championship, while O’Meara was eliminated despite a gutsy performance against the highly-fancied Charles Francombe.

But Steve Newland, who trains all three boys at the Park Royal club, wants the surviving pair to take a leaf out of O’Meara’s book when they contest the semi-finals at Feltham against the winners of the Western Counties division.

“It’s such a shame that the kid who put in the best performance is gone – he boxed out of his skin,” said Newland.

“The result was fair, but a lot closer than the scoreline (25-15) suggests. He kept going, adapted his tactics and did everything we asked him to do.

“JP’s a fantastic talent and he’ll be a top fighter in years to come. The other two lads want to look at how he did – they’re going to need to step it up and they can if they put everything together.”

O’Meara – who was cheered on by his uncle Steve, the Southern Area light-middleweight champion – began well in his class 1 under-32kg clash with Francombe (Pinewood Star ABC).

O’Meara worked the jab well and landed what seemed to be several scoring punches but, despite that, the first round was surprisingly scored level and Francombe edged ahead in the second.

That forced the Hooks youngster to take more risks and trade blows at close range, but a spirited display in the final round was not enough to swing the verdict in his favour.

Dunne, contesting the class 1 under-34kg category, also faced Pinewood Star opposition in Jimmy Bowers and emerged from an often scrappy opening round with a 5-4 advantage.

That narrow gap remained in Dunne’s favour at the end of the second, but he began to produce classier shots in the last round and ran out victorious by 18-15.

Having gained walkovers in the London division, Fanneran looked understandably rusty in his class 2 under-66kg clash against the more experienced Robert Phillips (Thames Valley).

The pair were level at the end of the first round and, although Fanneran threw better quality shots in the second, he found himself trailing 4-3 before doing enough in the closing stages to clinch a 7-6 victory.