BREAKING NEWS: DONEGAL boxer Jason Quigley has done it – he has taken gold in the European Boxing Championships in Minsk, Belarus, today.
The 22-year-old Ballybofey man took his place on the Donegal’s all-time sporting roll of honour with a tremendous performance.
After beating the world champion in the semi-final, Jason beat Romanian Bogdan Juratoni, the No2 seed, in today’s incredible final of the 75kg middleweight division.
The Finn Valley man shed tears of joy as he realised his dream of taking a European Senior Amateur Boxing title.
It was a nerve-jangling power-punching contest.
In the first round Jason danced around the ring, picking off his opponent with some nice punches, absorbing hits from the Romanian in the round, but winning the first round with the judges.
Juratoni came out fighting in the second, but Jason settled again and picked off his opponent with some great combinations. The fight was much closer – with most of the judges tied on the second round.
Jason was definitely tired in the last round; he was on the ground twice, falling over through tiredness.
But he held on to win – with the judges going for the Irish man.
The whole of Donegal was tuned in to the fight live on RTE2 – with celebrations in the Twin Towns.
Olympic silver medalist Ken Egan paid tribute to Quigley.
“He has always been knocking on the door and this is a tremendous tribute to Jason and what he has done,” said Egan.
“There’s no reason now why he can’t go on and do Ireland proud at the world championships. He’s a lovely guy; good and down to earth and decent man and he deserves everything he gets because of all the work he puts in.”
Earlier John Joe Nevin was crowned European Champion.
The Cavan BC bantamweight, the No. 1 seed in the Belarusian capital, outclassed Ukrainian southpaw Mykola Butsenko to earn a unanimous decision (30-27,29-28,29-28) at the Palace of Sports.
Paddy Barnes won silver having been forced to withdraw from the final with a broken nose.
And fellow Belfast man Michael Conlan took silver after being beaten on a split decision.
It is a glorious day for Irish boxing and a glorious day for Irish sport.
