Clonmany hosts milestone weekend as 19 Donegal boxing finals are decided

Nineteen Donegal Championship finals were boxed off in Clonmany over the weekend.

The St Bridget’s BC hosted the Donegal Novice and Open Championship finals while eight support bouts were also held on an action-packed weekend inside the ropes.

These were big milestone championships given that this year marks the 75th anniversary of the official formation of the County Donegal Boxing Board back in 1950.

In the Open Senior light-middleweight final, Illies Golden Gloves’ Paul McCloskey was the victor.

McCloskey bagged the 70kgs honours when taking a unanimous decision from his all-Inishowen clash with Dunree BC’s Jason McGilloway.

Illies’ Eddie Doherty stopped Eoghan McShane of St John Bosco in the second round of the Novice Boy 5 63kgs final.

Justin McGuinness (Carndonagh BC) took a 2-1 split decision over Killian Caldwell (Carrigart) in the Open Boy 5 63kgs final and Annagry’s Mark Murray saw off Carrigart’s Declan Sweeney thanks to a unanimous decision in the Novice Boy 5 75kgs final.

Ruadhan Gallagher of Dungloe BC earned a UD in the Novice Boy 4 66kgs final against Tighearnach Duggan (Carrigart) and Shay Glackin of Dungloe halted Patrick Parker (Carrigart) in the first round of the Novice Boy 4 63kgs final.

There were also victories for Letterkenny Boxing Club trio Ethan Kearns, Mahdi Azizy and Caelum Clarke.

In the Open Boy 2 44.5kgs decider, Kearns defeated Tiernan McGill of Dungloe via a unanimous decision.

In the Novice Boy 3 41.5kgs final, Azizy was the UD winner over Jordan McCann of Dunree while Clarke took a clean sweep of the cards to see off Caolan Mulholland of Annagry BC in the Novice Boy 3 62kgs final.

In the Novice Boy 4 80kgs final, Herman Serdiuchenko from Carndonagh BC saw off Conor Thompson of Raphoe BC.

Dunfanaghy BC’s Eddie McBride took a unanimous decision in the Open Boy 4 63kgs final against Twin Towns’ Caden Keenan.

Noah Quinn from Carndonagh BC edged a split decision against Raphoe BC’s Harry Magee in the Open Boy 3 54kgs final.

Annagry’s Fionnan Breathnach stopped Carndonagh’s Jaden Hegarty in the third round of the Novice Boy 1 35kgs final, while Caden Coll from Dunfanaghy BC earned a unanimous decision win over Raphoe BC’s Thomas Quigg in the Novice Boy 4 52kgs final.

Blake Stevenson of Raphoe BC beat Rhys Ward (Annagry) via a unanimous decision in the Novice Boy 2 59kgs final.

The Mickey Durning Memorial Shield was presented to Letterkenny’s Wacky Connor. The Shield is awarded to the Best Boy 1 boxer.

In one of the supporting bouts to the finals, Connors stopped Martin McDonagh of Convoy BC in the second round.

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Other supporting bouts saw: JJ Kelly (Letterkenny) beat Alex Boyle (Annagry; Martin McCarthy (Letterkenny) beat Tiernan McGinley (Dunfanaghy); Enya Logue (Annagry) beat Isla McShane (St John Bosco); Ellis O’Donnell (Dungloe) beat Isla Larkin (Letterkenny); Cathal Russell (Dunfanaghy) beat Akim Klosov (Letterkenny)