The Ballymena welterweight took a circuitous route. He competed in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) for the Polish Hussars last year and won five of his six bouts. Due to visa complications he missed another fight and fell outside the qualification mark of the top two in the WSB.

Then a series of fortuitous events happened and he was bumped up the Rio queue as Russian boxers qualified in both the WSB and World Championships. Two were then asked to box-off for one place and the fighter who favoured Donnelly’s inclusion in Rio won. Let’s hope that luck continues.