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JUDE Gallagher picked up his third Irish Elite title when he defeated Galway’s Adam Hession in a thrilling final, which could have gone either way.
The Newtownstewart Two Castles Olympic club man, who was crowned Ulster champion at the end of last year, went into the National Championships confident of regaining his number one status at 60kgs and he’s ‘delighted’ to have achieved that aim, while also being named best boxer of the tournament alongside Daina Moorehouse of Enniskerry BC Wicklow.
“It’s brilliant, I’m delighted with how it went,” he beamed. “It’s good to be back but the Irish one was the one I wanted to win, to get the number one spot in Ireland.
“I’m delighted to be back on top.”
He started his campaign a week earlier in the quarter-finals against Michael McDonagh, who he eased past 5-0.
“I won that unanimously enough, but he was a good young lad, tricky,” Jude acknowledged. “He was game and he’s the Irish Intermediate champion, so he was up and came to win, It was a challenge but I came through it all right.”
Then, on Friday night, he tackled Ratoath’s Gavin Ryan in the semi-final and Gallagher admits he perhaps made harder work of that contest than he needed to.
“He’s a very good boxer. He has boxed with Ireland at the under-23s recently. He’s very tricky, tall, long and rangy, so I had to work very hard against him,” the 24-year-old observed.
“I won the first round and I thought I’d won the second but I actually lost it 3-2, so I needed to win the last round.
“I could have performed a lot better but I didn’t feel I was going to lose the fight. I got the job done in the third round, I boxed well and let my hands go a bit more, and won it 5-0 to win it clearly.”
The next evening, Jude was back in Dublin’s National Stadium to tackle old foe Hession, who always proves a tough nut to crack. And on Saturday night, the pair served up another sensational clash with a cigarette paper needed to separate the top two 60kg fighters in the country yet again.
“I think that’s our fourth or fifth time fighting and we definitely bring the best out of each other,” Gallagher added.
“We’re both top level boxers so [our encounters] are always very good. They are always going to be close contests. It’s never going to be a fight you run away with. You know you’re going to have to be there until the end and that’s what you want, you want that level of competition in the ring, in the gym and sparring.
“It was a brilliant fight, it went right down to the wire and again, it went to the last round.
“I lost the first round 3-2, won the second round 3-2 and the last round was clearly, I felt was my best but you just don’t know until you’re hand is raised!
“It’s a long stand in that ring when he says 3-2 split decision and the place goes quiet but I was just relieved and thankfully it went in my favour.”
Jude’s now looking forward to a busy 2026 ahead, with several World Box Cups in Brazil, China and a final in Uzbekistan, which he’s hoping to be involved in, as well as the Commonwealth Games in the summer when he’ll be aiming to claim a second gold medal.
