Donovan delivers at National Stadium

Eric Donovan produced a stunning opening round to emerge victorious from his all St Michael's lightweight final with David Oliver Joyce at the Elite National Senior Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin on Saturday night.

Donovan, who was beaten by Joyce in the 2007 featherweight final, was 11-2 ahead at the end of round one after forcing his opponent into a standing count.

Joyce managed to reduce the arrears to 12-6 at the end of the second and looked en route to completing an amazing comeback after moving to within three points of his Athy team-mate one minute into the third.

However, Donovan upped the tempo once again in the final 40 seconds to post a 17-10 win, a victory that also secured him the Boxer of the Championships award.

Meanwhile, John Joe Nevin, who admitted that he was very disappointed with his performance, claimed his third senior belt in a row following 7-5 a decision over 2005 senior finalist Derek Thorpe of the St Aidan's club in Wexford.

Nevin, a semi-finalist at the 2009 AIBA World Senior Championships, took a low tempo first round 3-1, but Thorpe levelled it at 3-3 after registering the only scores of the second.

The Wexford man, who was written off by the bookies at 10/1 to win this bout, then appeared to be on the brink of causing the shock of the Championships after going 5-3 up in the third. However, Nevin secured the next four points of the 54Kg decider to retain his title.

Under-21 champion Gary Molloy added the Irish flyweight title to his collection with a hard-fought victory over Conor Ahern.

Molloy, who boxes out of the Moate club in Westmeath, withstood a late surge as Ahern reduced a 6-4 deficit to one point in the final thirty seconds.

However, the newly crowned champion showed enough composure and ring craft in the final 30 seconds to claim the 51Kg belt that lay vacant following the withdrawal of defending champion Declan Geraghty because of injury.

World Youth champion Ray Moylette also won his first senior belt following an impressive win over Ulster senior champion Stephen Donnelly.

The St Anne's Westport man won the first 3-0 and was 5-2 ahead at the end of the second before taking advantage of Donnelly chasing the bout to add another five points to his tally in the final 60 seconds.

Holy Trinity super-heavyweight Cathal McMonagle staged the comeback of the championships to beat Tommy Sheehan of the St Michael's Athy club.

Sheehan was 10-5 up in the third and final round of this encounter, but McMonagle, a three times senior champ, restored parity at 10-10 before landing the winning score in the final 10 seconds.

World and European champion Katie Taylor beat Ukranian Julia Tsyplakova 19-4 in a special bout this evening. The Bray woman beat Tsyplakova 10-2 on Friday.

Elite National Senior Championships Finals National Stadium

Boxer of the Championships
Eric Donovan (St Michael's Athy)

6 March Elite Finals
51Kg: G Molloy (Moate) beat C Ahern (Baldoyle) 6-5
54Kg: JJ Nevin (Cavan) beat Derek Thorpe (St Aidens) 7-5
60Kg: E Donovan (St Michael's Athy) beat D Joyce (St Michael's Athy) 17-10
64Kg: R Moylette (St Anne's) beat S Donnelly (All Saints) 10-3
91Kg+Kg: C McMonagle (Holy Trinity) beat T Sheehan (St Michael's Athy) 11-10

Special contest
60Kg: K Taylor (Ireland) beat J Tsyplakova (Ukraine) 19-4

5 March Elite Finals
51Kg (F) D Rogers (Bray) beat R Meaney (Tolerton) RSC2
69Kg (F) J Lyons (St Francis) lost to K Harrington (West Finglas) 2-10
48Kg: P Barnes (Holy Family) beat J Moore (St Francis) 8-1
69Kg: W McLaughlin (Illies GG) lost to JJ Joyce (St Michael's Athy) 9-12
75Kg: D O'Neill (Paulstown) beat J Quigley (Finn Valley) 6-1
81Kg: K Egan (Neilstown) beat T McCarthy (Oliver Plunkett) 8-5
57Kg: T McCullough (Illies GG Donegal) beat J Fryers (Immaculata) 3-1
91Kg: C Sheehan (Clonmel) beat A Reynolds (Ballincarrow) 10-3