The National Senior championships got off to a less than exciting start at the National Stadium in Dublin last night when the preliminary rounds were decided without the appearance of any of the really strongly fancied contenders for titles.

As the Irish Amateur Boxing Association faces into a busy year, there was a surprisingly good attendance as these preliminaries were dispensed with.

First into the ring last night was the feather weight contest between William Valentine, from St Saviour's in Dublin, against Barry Waite, from the Holy Family club in Belfast. There were some lively exchanges before Valentine, who also has a reputation as a race jockey, prevailed on a count of 11 points to seven.

In the welter division, Seanie Barrett, from Rylane in Galway, beat James Keohane, from Dungarvan, who was a member of the Defence Forces. Again, the margin of 21-16 reflected a pretty close contest.

It must be remembered that these bouts now are over five, two-minute rounds, and Barrett was in the ascendant all through before surviving a late surge from Keohane.

In the second bout in this division, Pat Colgan, from Avona, surprised even himself. He was trailing Michael Blaney, from the Holy Trinity club in Belfast, at the end of the third round, but then opened up with an array of punches which forced the Belfast man to take three compulsory counts; the referee ended the contest there and then.

At lightweight, Ronan Maher, from Moate, under the expert guidance of the former multi-champion Denis Galvin, beat Conor McAllister, from the Dockers club in Belfast, quite convincingly on a score of 11 points to four.

In the second bout in the lightweight division, the highly fancied Aodh Carlyle, from the Sacred Heart club in Dublin, seemed to be on his way to a shock defeat against Noel Monteith, from Dockers, before putting in a stern revival in the last two rounds to shade the decision by 17 points to 13.

In the light welterweight section, Michael Kelly, from Dealgan in Louth, beat Jonathan McCoombe, from Antrim, impressively on a score of 27 points to 12, while Seamus Cowman, from St Paul's in Waterford, more or less replicated this decision over Mark Sweeney, from Crumlin, the score being 2310.

In the light middleweight section, the gangling Michael Roche, from the Sunnyside in Cork, finally showed the result of expert coaching from the former Irish champion and European bronze medallist, Kieran Joyce, by beating Stephen Keeler from St Saviour's in Dublin on a score of 13 points to four.