SEAN Kilroy avenged his May defeat to Liam Hanrahan in stylish fashion as the Holy Family boxer outclassed the Macclesfield man in England on Friday night.

Kilroy was part of the Holy Family squad that travelled over to face the English club in a return fixture of the tournament which took place in Drogheda last summer.

The Drogheda man lost out that night in what was a barnstorming contest, but got his revenge by completely out-boxing Hanrahan with a classy performance.

Kilroy was one of four winners for the Ballsgrove-based club as Mikey Nevin, Hughie Nevin and Christopher Lawrence also had their hands raised in victory.

After last year's epic battle at the Boyne Valley, after which the audience were left enthralled by the explosive nature of the contest, many were expecting a rerun as Kilroy went up against Hanrahan for a second time.

However, the Holy Family boxer had a surprise in store for the packed-out auditorium in Wilmslow, as he put on a boxing masterclass that left the comeforward Hanrahan shocked.

The Macclesfield boxer came out flying from the first bell as he expected a toe-to-toe war with Kilroy (23), but the Drogheda boxer, realising he made a mistake in their last outing by slugging it out, went on the back foot and struck on the counter and landed some pin-point jabs early on.

Hanrahan's large following were soon silenced and it was the travelling Holy Family boxers and coaching staff who were making all the noise as Kilroy continued his shrewd boxing in the second, landing jabs and combinations that frustrated the home-town favourite.

A big body shot from Hanrahan in the second slowed Kilroy down slightly and it looked like the bout may turn into the tear-up that everyone expected, but the Holy Family man regained his composure soon after to comfortably take the second round.

As expected, Hanrahan went for it in the last round, but that just gave the counter-punching Kilroy more opportunities to slip and slide away from his opponent and landing shots at will.

Kilroy made sure the judges would not be swayed by the home-town fans by winning in such impressive fashion and duly had his hand raised as the unanimous winner at the end of the encapsulating contest.

'It was a great performance by Sean, he done exactly what we wanted him to do. We knew getting into another war with Hanrahan would be foolish, but he put in his best display for a long time to out-box his man,' claimed Holy Family coach Damien Mckenna.

Mikey Nevin got the evening off to a winning start for the local club as he forced his opponent Harry Thomson to retire just before the third round.

Nevin was far too strong for his English opponent as he landed combination after combination to push Thomson back on the ropes.

The Holy Family boxer was on the way to a clear win before Thomson blamed injury for his withdrawal before the third round.

Hughie Nevin was victorious after a tactical three-round contest with Billy Edwards from Welsh club Dyffryn as his accurate jab proved the decisive factor on his way to a unanimous win.

Lawrence also picked up a unanimous victory as he overcame Jack Rawlings, with the Holy Family boxer's big right hands and fast punching proving too much for the Englishman.

Colin Dyas was unfortunate to lose out to the awkward Jake Haigh, while his brother Michael was on the wrong side of a very debatable decision against John Watson.

Sean Shevlin lost to the classy Peter Bebbington, while recent Elite Senior semi-finalist Michael Reilly was defeated by Andrew Kometa, with the Holy Family boxer's exertions in the national championships taking their toll.

Stephen Lawrence will certainly feel hard done by as he dominated Kirk Crawford for the opening two rounds and looked on course to win a comfortable decision, but the Englishman's aggressiveness in the last round somehow swayed the judges into giving the home-town boxer the majority win.

Meanwhile, the Holy Family picked up four titles at the Louth/meath Championships in Trim on Sunday as Derek Maguire, Hughie Nevin, Hughie Myers and Jamie Dyas were all victorious and the club also picked up four walkovers.

The club will now be sending a strong team to the Leinster Boy 4 and Youth Championships which take place this weekend.