Gold medal for Jessica and Paul secures silver

Gold medal for Jessica and Paul secures silver

26 April 2023

BOXERS from Pegasus ABC enjoyed great success at the recent All-Ireland amateur boxing championships in Dublin.

The Downpatrick based club had two entries in the competition, which included 12 year-olds Jessica Flannagan and Paul Gilgunn.

The talented Jessica boxed at 47 kilos and qualified for the All-Ireland event by winning the Antrim title, defeating Rathfriland ABC’s Elena Shephard in a tough contest and in doing so, avenging an earlier loss to the same opponent.

In Jessica’s semi-final bout she was matched with Faith Ward from Glin ABC, East Meath. Jessica was always in control and in the third round she forced the referee to give the Glin boxer a standing count.

A 5-0 victory for Jessica awarded her an All-Ireland final berth versus Sophia Sheehy from Celtic Eagles ABC, Dublin.

Jessica made short work of her opponent in this bout, winning inside one round, showing lots of class and also, lots of accuracy, to force the referee to intervene.

This captured the crown for Jessica, who also became the club’s first female, and youngest, All-Ireland winner.

Meanwhile, 50 kilo boxer Paul, who qualified for the competition by winning the Antrim championship in March, opened up his campaign by boxing 

John O’Driscoll from Kanturk ABC, Munster. 

A great start from Paul, whose all-aggression style helped him to a 4-1 victory.

In his semi-final, Paul boxed D Finn from Roscommon ABC in Connaught. This was a much tougher contest for Paul, but again he ran out a winner on points.

Paul, through to his first Irish final, boxed Mick Anderson from Bay City ABC in Dublin. This was a very close contest over three competitive rounds but Paul lost out on a 3-2 scoreline. 

A disappointing result but a fantastic effort from Paul in his first competitive season of boxing.

A great week of boxing from two very talented boxers.