So Close – Martin McDonagh suffers Olympic Heartbreak
The miracle of Martin McDonagh looked set to continue to Paris this afternoon, only for the big man to be pipped at the post of a tight tense ring race.
The Galway super heavyweight, who had his first carded fight just two years ago, pushed World Championship silver medalist Davit Chaloyan all the way in the final bout of the Olympic qualifiers.
Indeed, many felt, McDonagh had just about done enough to have his hand raised but it wasn’t to be for the boxer, who came out of nowhere to become a respected Elite amateur operator at his weight.
The 21-year-old went in trailing 3-2 after the first stanza but was level on four cards by the time the bell sounded to end the second, meaning his Olympic hopes came down to a 3-minute shootout.
It appeared as if the Irish fighter had fired more shots across those three minutes of that shootout, but the Armenian got the nod 3-2 in that round and thus the fight, securing passage to Paris in the process.
It was a disappointing ending to a sensational Sunday for Irish boxing.
Before McDonagh climbed through the ropes four Irish fighters, Jennifer Lehane, Grainne Walsh, Daina Moorehouse and Aidan Walsh had qualified.
The four wins brought Ireland’s total of boxers qualified to 10, two more than the previous record of eight qualified for the Rio 2016 games. It’s also the first time Ireland had a full quota of women qualified for a Games.
