Martin McDonagh's run comes to an end in Italy

Martin McDonagh's hopes of booking an Olympic ticket at the qualification tournament in Busto Arsizio, Italy have come to an end following a split-decision loss to Bahrain’s Danis Latypov.

The Galway youngster had caught the eye in the early rounds, but came out on the wrong side of a 3-2 decision on Saturday afternoon with another qualification tournament to come in May in Bangkok.

The first round in the 92kg contest went well for McDonagh, a number of early head combinations building confidence before he rocked the Russian born Latypov back with a stiff right at the halfway stage.

Latypov recovered well, the southpaw picking holes through McDonagh’s rear-guard, to take the first round 3-2.

The Bahrain man started the second round strongly, landing cleanly off both sides, but McDonagh’s power combos were still causing him issues as the round progressed.

That impressed the judges and going into the last was all to play for with Latypov up in one and the scores level on four other scorecards.

An early right to the body caused Latypov to grimace in the third, but he came off the ropes well and his accuracy was impressive.

McDonagh has shown real character at the E-Work Arena all week though and he unleashed a barrage of punches in the final minute to leave his opponent looking uncomfortable, but the decision went against him by the narrowest of margins.

Grainne Walsh will be hoping to book her place in the quarter-finals later on Saturday as she faces Kenya’s Anyango Friza Asiko at approximately 6.45pm Irish time.