DONEGAL will have plenty of interest in the National Elite Championships in January.
Illies Golden Gloves duo Matthew McCole and John Moran lead the charge from the north west.
Letterkenny Boxing Club’s Paddy McShane will try his hand at the Elites.
Carndonagh native Rosemary Doherty, who boxes out of St Francis in Limerick, and Stephen McMonagle, the Letterkenny native who represented the Belfast-based Holy Trinity BC, will also be in the mix.
Last November, McCole defeated Mark Sammon to win an Irish senior title.
The Dungloe native, now representing Illies, followed up in February by reaching the Ulster Elite final, but he lost the final to Eugene McKeever at the Ulster Hall.
A couple of weeks later, McCole took the Senior 69kgs title at the Irish Third Level Boxing finals, the LyIT student defeating Terry McEntee (DCU) in the final.
Moran, a three-time Irish kingpin with titles at Boy 4, Youth 1 and Under-18 levels, will also take to the scales.
Light-flyweight Moran was a bronze medalist at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games in the Bahamas.
Doherty won an Irish Senior crown last November and added a Colleges welterweight title earlier this year.
McShane has four underage titles to his name and will step onto the Elite canvas in the New Year.
McMonagle is a three-time Ulster Elite winner whose brother Cathal is a five-time Irish Elite champion
A total of 207 boxers have entered the Championships, which will glove off on January 8, 2021.
The IABA have added a second week to the schedule. Boxing will run from January 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22 and 23.
The finals will be held on two sessions, January 22nd and 23rd, with a mixed programme of contests each night.
Weights will be confirmed for the entrants after December 16.
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