IT was a mixed weekend for Northern Ireland's boxers at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with two winners and one exiting at the first hurdle.
Jude Gallagher got the weekend off to a good start as he impressed in a unanimous decision win over Eswatini's Zweli Dlamini in their last 32 featherweight bout on Saturday.
The Newtownstewart man produced a composed display, boxing tidily with his timing and movement excellent to nullify his explosive opponent.
Gallagher was straight down to business and put his shots together well, but Dlamini was dangerous and got through with a couple of heavy rights that kept the Two Castles man honest, even prompting an exchange.
The Newtownstewart man was consistently better in the first thing his counters well and swept the opener with one judge even scoring at a 10-8.
R2: the onus was on Dlamini to turn this contest around and he began the second with intent, fighting at a higher pace and attempting to draw Gallagher into a war, having a little more success.
Gallagher remained composed and soon reasserted himself, his timing and accuracy excellent as he earned the nod from three of the judges to leave him on the cusp.
Dlamini remained dangerous and a heavy, flush right landed early in the third to remind Gallagher that he couldn't afford to switch off, but he was chasing shadows for the most part.
A solid body shot seemed to take the wind out of his sails as Gallagher remained composed, boxed and moved to sweep the final frame and advance into the last 16 and a meeting with England's Niall Farrell today.
It was a mixed bag at the National Exhibition Centre yesterday as Carly McNaul opened her bid for a second Games medal following a silver finish in 2018 with a win over Australia's Kirsty Lee Harris.
This was an extremely competitive battle in the last 16 of the 50kg category with the Ormeau Road Boxing Club fighter doing enough to edge home on a split decision.
McNaul earned just two of the five judges' nod in the first and it was a similar story in the second with two of the judges' card level heading into the final frame.
The world number five needed a big three minutes and she delivered to edge home 3-2 and earn a crack at Sri Lanka's Keshani Hansika in Wednesday's quarter-final with a foot on the podium the prize for the winner.
Later in the day, it just wasn't to be for Jake Tucker as he was edged out in the men's middleweight division by Guernsey's Billy Le Poullain on a thinner of a 3-2 split decision.
The Emerald boxer dropped the first round across the board but rallied well in the second to leave it all square on four cards heading into the final round, but the Guernsey man did just enough to squeak home.
As well as Gallagher's last 16 bout today, Holy Trinity's Clepson Dos Santos makes his bow in the flyweight division when he faces Ghana's Yaw Samuel Addo in the last 16.
