Big two set up Stadium showdown

DARREN SUTHERLAND and Darren O’Neill took different routes but each had decisive semi-final victories to qualify for tonight’s middleweight showdown at the finals of the national championships at the National Stadium.

Sutherland, deadly accurate with a vicious left jab, never gave Dundalk man, Sean Shevlin (Dealgan) a chance, outscoring him 11-1 in the first round with every punch doing damage.

Shevlin, runner-up in the Leinster championships, took a standing count in the first round from a left hook, and when he took another count lest than half a minute into the second, referee Tom McGahern stopped the contest.