BOXING/National Senior Championships:Former Irish senior champion Eric Donovan was left devastated last night after he lost out on a countback to Ross Hickey in the semi-finals of the National Senior Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin.
Both boxers gave it their all in a four-round thriller which ended 7-7, but when the maths were done it was the Grangecon man who won on a 15-13 countback.
Meanwhile, the most eagerly-awaited Irish senior boxing final in years is on tonight after middleweights Darren Sutherland and Darren O'Neill recorded semi-final victories.
Defending champion Sutherland, from the St Saviour club in Dublin, forced Seán Shevlin into two standing counts before the referee stopped the contest in the second with the Dubliner 11-1 up.
O'Neill had a much harder passage into the final against Edward Healy, with both boxers tied at 2-2 at the end of the first. However, the Kilkenny man opened up in the second and third, connecting with lefts and rights en route to a convincing 15-3 victory.
Two boxers from Dublin's Neilstown club marched into tonight's finals without having to lift a glove. Irish captain Ken Egan and club-mate Alex Vedernikov received walkovers over William Mitchell and Luke Tyson Fury, who both withdrew.
Egan, who is targeting his eight senior title on the trot, will fight Michael Mullaney or Ciaran Curtis this evening while Vedernikov faces defending super heavyweight champion Cathal McMonagle.
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