Jude Gallagher Helped Lift Jon McConnell onto European Podium
Jude Gallagher literally gave Jon McConnell a boost onto the European Championship podium on Monday.
McConnell claimed bronze at the very least when he defeated Gabriele Guidi Rontani of Italy via split decision in Sofia.
Speaking after he revealed teammate Gallagher’s sensational comeback victory gave him the belief he could secure silverware.
Before stepping into the ring, the Holy Trinity fighter had been watching on from a coffee shop as his teammate moved into the quarter finals via a stunning stoppage turnaround against France’s Lounes Hamraoi.
Gallagher trailed after the opening round before changing tactics and forcing standing counts in both the second and third rounds, eventually winning by stoppage to advance to the European quarter-finals.
McConnell admitted the performance gave him a huge psychological lift ahead of his own medal bout.
“I just want to say that Jude’s performance today… I was looking at it in a coffee shop, I had it on the phone …. It just gave me a lift. The way he came out in that second round, I just looked at it and just went I’m going to win today.
“Fair play to my teammates as well, shouting in the stands for me. I’m just glad to get the win for the team.”
McConnell then produced the goods himself in a fiercely contested quarter-final, securing Ireland’s first medal of the championships with a 3-2 victory over the Italian.
The Commonwealth Games champion had done enough work in the opening two rounds to take a lead into the final stanza, where both men were deducted a point.
Despite being dragged into a physical battle in the closing stages, the Belfast talent kept his composure to see out the victory.
“I’m over the moon. It was some fight, it was a close fight. He just wouldn’t stop. It was dirty enough with the head and stuff but I just kept my composure in that last round.
“I got dragged into a fight a bit in that last 30 seconds but I knew I had won. Then a point off, I didn’t know what way it would go and then he got a point off, and rightly so for the head, but in the semi-final. Let’s go!”
McConnell now moves into the last four, where he will face Azerbaijan’s Nabi Isgandarov on Wednesday with a place in the European final on the line.
Gallagher will also be back in action on Wednesday, facing Cuban-born Spaniard Ewart Andrés Marín Hernández in his own medal quarter-final.
