Fans of Irish boxing were disappointed this weekend, when Limerick hero Andy Lee lost his WBO World Middleweight title fight to British boxer Billy Joe Saunders.

Originally scheduled for Thomond Park in Limerick, the fight was delayed and relocated – taking place on Saturday night before a crowd of 7,000 in Manchester.

Andy Lee acknowledged afterwards that the verdict was a fair one.

"Congratulations to @bjsaunders_ you fought a very good fight & deserved to win. It wasn't my night but I'd like to do it again,” he said on Twitter.

Lee also thanked his fans – particularly the ones that had travelled from Ireland

"Thank you for all the support last night especially all the people who made the trip from Ireland. It wasn't my night but I will rise again,” he said.

The fight tilted Saunders' way critically in the third round, when he twice felled Lee. The Limerick boxer recovered from those setbacks physically, but he could never deliver the kind of sledgehammer blow it would have required to knock the British fighter out.

“He deserved to win so I can’t complain with the decision,” Lee told news reporters afterwards. "I would like another go of it. I felt I finished stronger but the two knockdowns cost me the fight.”

It is a view with which it was impossible to argue. One of the judges scored the fight even at 113-113 – but the other two both gave it to Saunders, by margins of four points (115 to 111) and two points (114 to 112) respectively.

Lee has challenged Saunders to a rematch, and initially at least, the new champion seems open to the idea. “Andy showed a good account of himself tonight,” he commented. “A rematch could go. I’m sure we could do a bigger venue down in London: that’s something that we could talk about as well.”

Lee, who is 31, is married to Maud Ní Riordáin - now Maud Lee – of Maud In Cahoots. The band have been Hot Press favourites for years and remain capable of achieving great things. They released the beautiful ‘Cure For The Crazy’ (produced by James Darkin, in Temple Land Studios) in September 2015, with Maud delivering a powerful vocal performance over a wonderfully atmospheric musical backdrop.

“Maud in Cahoots are a band that make you aware that there is something desperate wrong with the music industry,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said. “They won the Hot Press-run Guinness sponsored Play On The Day competition what seems like ages ago. At the time we knew that they had what it takes to deliver a great album and to make a genuinely enduring impact on music. And yet, so many years on, they have still to make their debut album.

"They are still making wonderful music. In fact they have matured and grown creatively, as ‘Cure For The Crazy’ confirms. But they have yet to get the support from the music industry generally that they richly deserve. It’d make you despair."