Matthew McCole on wrong end of game of inches in Elite semi-final

Matthew McCole bowed out of the National Elite Championships on Friday night.

The Illies Golden Gloves light-middleweight was beaten on a 3-2 split decision by Jon McConnell from the Holy Trinity club in Belfast.

There was little between the pair after contest akin to a game of chess at the National Stadium.

Both McCole and McConnell were warned in the second round of their contest.

Dungloe native McCole, a bronze medal winner at the 2022 FISU University World Cup Combat Sports in Turkey, may have appeared the busier of the two.

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However, the arbitrators at ringside sided with thee clean-shooting McConnell.

It was one of those nights where the verdict could have gone either way and whoever was on the wrong end of the sums would feel hard done by.

A 'robbery' it wasn't, though ATU student McCole will rightly count himself unfortunate not to be making a return for Saturday's final.

McConnell advances to the final, where he faces Dean Walsh, who sent ripples of shock coursing through the old venue on the South Circular Road when beating Olympic bronze medallist Aidan Walsh.