THE WELTERWEIGHT AND HEAVYWEIGHT finals at the Ulster Intermediate Championships on Friday night will be all-Donegal affairs.
Last night in semi-finals at the Dockers Club in Belfast, a further five Donegal boxers booked their tickets into Friday’s final session with another four going through the ropes for semi-finals tonight.
Last night, Orin McDermott (Finn Valley) and Mark McCole (Dungloe) recorded semi-final wins in the welterweight division.
McDermott took a comfortable 3-0 win over Mauric Little from Dungannon while McCole (pictured above with his club coaches) stopped Nathan Fox from Omagh.
The meeting of McDermott and McCole is sure to spark the fires at the Pilot Street venue.
The same could be said of the heavyweight final which will see Finn Valley’s 10-time Irish champion Michael Gallagher glove off with Letterkenny’s powerful puncher Michael McConigley.
Gallagher, a bronze medalist at the 2014 Youth Olympics, had a bye into the final and last night McConigley overcame Damien O’Hagan from Bishop Kelly 2-1.
Raphoe ABC’s Dennis Lafferty booked a place in the featherweight final. The Ballindrait man took a 3-0 decision against Conan Patterson of Phoenix to set up a final bout with Eamon McNally from St Michel’s.
Oran Shields from Letterkenny will do battle with Patrick Doherty (St Joseph’s) in a middleweight semi-final tonight after scoring a 3-0 quarter-final win over Dylan Taylor (Clonard) in last night’s quarter-final, but there was no joy for Cathal McLaughlin (Raphoe) who was edged out by Daniel Anderson (Dockers).
Letterkenny lightweight Cillin Boyle meets Seamus Deeds from Emerald in a semi tonight while light-middleweight Paul Darby from Twin Towns – who defeated Raphoe’s Danny Duggan on Monday – squares up to Daniel O’Hagan from Omagh in a semi-final.
The other light-middleweight semi sees Dungloe’s Jonathan Smith square up to Clonard man Gerard French.
Two other Donegal boxers are guaranteed spots in Friday’s finals, with Letterkenny cruiserweight Davit Tsotsoria meeting Tony Campbell of Immaculata and Finn Valley’s stylish Austeja Auciute up against Suzanne Kennedy (Rochesters) in the women’s light-welterweight final.
