The amateur career of Francie Barrett drew to a close at the National Stadium on Saturday night when the pairings for the National Senior finals were decided. He was beaten by Paul McCloskey from Derry in the lightweight semi-final on a score of 25-15 and immediately announced that he was about to turn professional.

Barrett, from a traveller family in Galway, hit the headlines by qualifying for the Atlanta Olympics, where he carried the Irish flag in the opening ceremony. However, his potential has never been fully realised.

Two sets of brothers will contest the finals. At light flyweight and flyweight, respectively, Liam and Harry Cunningham from the Saints club in Belfast will be in action while at light heavyweight and heavyweight, respectively, reigning champions Alan and Stephen Reynolds from St Joseph's in Sligo have qualified.

The closest bout on the Saturday bill was that between John Duddy from the Ring club in Derry and Pat Walsh from St Colman's in Cork. Duddy, an all-action fighter, needed a countback on the computer system to win. He had made a storming comeback in the fourth round to draw level with Walsh on a 13-13 scoreline and the countback gave him the advantage by 74 to 63.

Duddy will now meet the reigning champion, Michael Roche from Sunnyside, in the finals next Friday night. Roche was given a stern test in the semi-final by Marvin Lee from the CIE club in Dublin, and managed to make his superior fitness tell.

Lee was on level terms at the end of the first round but Roche gradually pulled away and a standing count in the third round probably clinched the bout for the champion who won 9-4.

The reigning champion at featherweight, Bernard Dunne of CIE/Trinity had little trouble in his semi-final against J P Campbell from South Meath. Leading 14-4 at the end of the second round he pulled further ahead in the third (24-7) and finished 329 up.

At light heavyweight Alan Reynolds finished strongly to score a 32-10 victory over Paddy Smyth from Keady. Reynolds had only a one-point lead after the first two rounds but strode away in the third with the help of a standing count for Smyth to lead 23-11 at the end of the third.

Reynolds now defends his title against Sean O'Grady from St Saviour's in Dublin following an unfortunate experience for Drimnagh's Stephen Walsh, who was forced to retire in the third round with an injured hand. He had already been on the floor in the first round. One of the most impressive performances of the night was that of Adrian Patterson from the St Patrick's club in Newry who beat Declan Barrett from Rylane in Cork. The bout was fairly evenly balanced going into the last round but Patterson forced a standing count in the last and won 20-6.