This year has been an amazing one, sports-wise, because he has not only proved to be a key player with the Pembrokeshire Schools’ under 16 team but also become a Welsh Junior Champion in boxing, winning the coveted gold medal as a member of Merlins Bridge ABC and being joined by Ffion Evans (gold) and Alex O’Sullivan (bronze) as medal winners in the British Championships under coach Graham Brockway and his hard-working coaches, writes Bill Carne.
 
Sean is 16 now and in the middle of his GCSE exams at Ysgol Penryn Dewi, in St Davids but he started out as a keen young boxer at The Yard ABC in Letterston which was run by Ken Owen and Rowley George, but it has sadly closed now because of a shortage of numbers.
 
He won his first bout but then lost, but defeat only made him all the determined to do well and he eventually reached two Welsh schools finals with him winning the 2023 schoolboy Welsh championship, taking the coveted gold medal.
 
So he joined Graham Brockway and the other excellent coaches at Merlins Bridge – with dad Eddie, himself a very good rugby player with St Davids, as a great taxi driver, and he served notice of his growing confidence and improved skill levels as he won the ‘Box Cup’ competition in the Western Region of the WABA for the second time as he beat Riley Ford, from Swansea.
 

Great boxing earns his Welsh vest . . .

 
After deciding to focus fully on boxing for the past three months after deciding to take a rest from rugby (but more of that later!) it began to pay off as he travelled to the National Sports Centre in Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, and gained a unanimous points verdict in a tough semi-final against Eddie McDonagh (St Josephs) in the 75kgs class, to set up an even bigger challenge against Romeo Macarinelli a week later.
 
Now Romeo is the son of Enzo Macarinelli, the former World Champion in the light-heavyweight division of professional boxing - and so his son might have started as favourite but Sean put on a terrific show, cheered on by his family, and gained a superb unanimous points decision, proudly stepped on to the winner’s area on the podium and received his second gold medal and Welsh vest that will adorn a wall at home when dad finds time to frame it!
 

. . . And then a silver medal at The British Finals!

 
Not content with that little lot, Sean had to return to Sophia Gardens a month later for the British Finals and was again in excellent form as he out-boxed Jack O’Neill (Scotland) to gain another unanimous points verdict
 
It meant he was to take on Michael Maughan in the final and although he gave it all he had he was beaten in points and so had to settle for silver - but although he was understandably disappointed, he knew he had tried his best, and the praise from Eddie, Graham and all the others involved softened the blow.
 
But like in his early days, Sean has already set his heart on gold next season so he can maintain his record so far of 15 wins in 23 bouts, no mean feat considering a number of them have been at far-flung venues when it is always harder to impress ‘home’ judges (my opinion, not his!)
 

Sean’s next few fights…

 
Sean has travelled Scotland and Ireland with the Western Division boxing squad where he has competed in international box cup tournaments. He fought two very skilful boys and gained a great amount of experience from it.
 
Most recently, Sean has just fought in the Warehouse Box Cup where he defeated Luca Bowen, who he lost to the previous weekend. This time he won by a unanimous decision, claiming the gold medal and getting his revenge.
 

Sean stars in Pembs Dewar Shield rugby side

 
This latest rugby season was an amazing one for Sean because he was a regular member of the Pembrokeshire Under 16 team, coached by Aled Waters, Tom Meredaith and Dan Field which won all its games in their section of the National Dewar Shield competition, winning five out of five matches before taking on Swansea East in the quarter final at Heywood Lane, Tenby - but were then controversially beaten and so had to bow out of the main competition.
 
But they still had to play two so that they finished in fifth place and so guaranteed a seeding for the team coming through to play next season - and his performances in all these games, where he was part of a formidable pack that included the likes of Ollie Tucker and  Harvey Thomas  saw him selected for the Scarlets (West) squad, where he played in all their matches against RGC (North Wales), Dragons and Scarlets (East) and finished up on the winning side in all of them.
 

Sean also shone for Scarlets

 
His back-row performances there earned him the chance to play for the full Scarlets team to play against the other regions but Sean showed his commitment his boxing by making the decision he had to focus if he was to win another Welsh vest - and it worked.
 
Sean has been playing rugby since he was seven, following in the footsteps of his father Eddie, who came over from Ireland and after joining St Davids with relatively little knowledge of the game, ended up as captain and serving The Saints for a number of years.
 

And finally . . .

 
Sean started out playing with St Davids’ juniors from the age of seven, with dad as coach, and then moved to Haverfordwest at under 13 level, with Steve Williams and Ade Smith as coaches, because The Saints couldn’t muster a team then - and also played for St Davids School, where Bruce Evans was his coach.
 
So what of his immediate future in sport” After his exam results come through, he will have to make decisions about where his education will take him next but he will approach it with the level-headedness that is very much part of his nature.
 
There’s one thing for sure: whatever he decides he will continue to work hard at his boxing and rugby - and we at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk can only repeat Mr Brockway’s words because we will certainly hear more about the sporting exploits of Sean Bolger in the future!