Two sets of brothers, one from Belfast, the other from Sligo, won national titles at the National Boxing Stadium in Dublin last night. Harry and Liam Cunningham from the Saints Club in Belfast won the first two contests of the night at light fly and flyweight respectively; while at light heavy and heavy Alan and Stephen Reynolds from the St Joseph's Club in Sligo were crowned champions.

The Cunningham brothers were both impressive in their wins. Harry, the younger of the two, was a clear winner on a score of 15-4, after defeating John Paul Kinsella from Ballybrack in Dublin.

Reigning flyweight champion Liam got to work early and forced Darren Campbell, from the Glin Club in Dublin, to take a standing count in the first round. The third round was, extraordinarily, stopped after one minute when it should have gone the official distance of two. Just before the start of what would have been the fourth round the boxers were recalled to the centre of the ring for the extra one minute. They then met for the fourth and at the end of that Cunningham was confirmed as the winner on a score of 34-20.

The Reynolds brothers were both reigning champions and retained their titles. Alan at light heavy was a good (19-11) winner over Sean O'Grady from the St Saviour's club in Dublin; but at heavyweight Stephen scored a remarkable 45-14 victory over Tramore's Shane Power. In the welterweight division Neil Gough from the St Paul's club in Waterford was a clear winner over James Moore of Arklow and in doing so picked up his eighth national title.

Six boxers who had won titles in the Stadium in 1950 were honoured with special presentations. They were Benny Carabini from Arbour Hill, who was the 1950 bantamweight champion; Terry Milligan from Shortt and Harland at feather; Christy Foley from Dunshaughlin at lightweight; Peter Crotty from Clonmel at Welter; Willie Duggan from Crumlin at light heavy and Gearoid O Colmain, North City, at Heavy.