Gallagher and Byrne fail to get their hands on the Prizefighter trophy

NEITHER Paddy Gallagher or Dean Byrne could round off a brilliant weekend of Irish boxing with victory in what turned out to be a bizarre Prizefighter the welterweights on Saturday night.

Johnny Coyle landed the £32,000 cheque and the career changing trophy after beating pre tournament favourite Paddy Gallagher in the final.

Belfast’s Gallagher made the decider despite losing the first fight to Eric Ochieng, but after a fight with three knock downs in the opening stanza, Ochieng collapsed with exhaustion and ‘The Pat Man’ was reinstated.

Dean Byrne exited at the first hurdle, but wasn’t offered a route back into the contest. Byrne lost every round against Mark Douglas in what was another exciting bout. The Dubliner once again showed courage, but despite hurting his foe late in the first round, shipped more punishment and exited the tournament.

Gallagher then got Irish revenge as he knocked out Douglas in just 31 seconds of the first Semi final before Coyle controversially beat Sam Eggington.

Coyle twice sent Gallagher to the canvas in the decider enroute to a points win.

Speaking to Sky Sports afterwards, Coyle said: “It feels unbelievable, it’s hard to describe to be honest. The money is beautiful, but i’ve made history, i’ve only had four fights before this and i’m probably the youngest person to win this.

“I’m a traveller and we like to go to war sometimes.”