County Derry Post

A Toomebridge teenager has been told by doctors he won’t be able to take part in a boxing tournament after he was badly beaten in an apparently sectarian attack.

By Connla Young
connla@derrypost.com

 

Budding boxing star Enda Kennedy was set upon by two youths as he boarded a bus at Church Street, Antrim, last Thursday.
Now doctors have told the young fighter he will not be able to take part in the All Ireland Amateur Boxing Championships in March.

 

The teenager says he didn’t see his attackers coming.

 

“They came up to me, pulled me to the ground and starting kicking me in the face,” he said.

 

The youngster was treated at the Ulster Hospital, Dundonald, where specialists diagnosed a depressed cheekbone and crushed right eye socket.

 

The teenager’s father, Damien, said his son was disappointed not to be going to the boxing finals.

 

“He is just gutted he won’t be able to compete in the all-Irelands,” he said.

 

“He keeps saying he’ll be ok, but we are not taking any chances. Enda got to the bus first and he was waiting on the doors to open when two guys appeared from behind the bus.

 

“They ran up and one of them grabbed Enda’s schoolbag and pulled him to the ground, while the other one kicked the head off him.”

 

Mr Kennedy also revealed his son has been threatened through the pages of social networking site, Bebo.

 

Police say they are treating the attack as sectarian.