Love Island and Skittles all fuel in Jon McConnell's journey towards Commonwealth Games gold

It was Team NI’s sixth medal in the ring after Jude Gallagher, Garyn McAllister and Willie Jon McCartan secured bronze medals, while Michaela Walsh and Kaci Rock won silver.

For McConnell – who boxes out of the Holy Trinity club in Belfast – it was a dream come true.

“Unreal, it's surreal to be honest,” said McConnell. “A lifelong goal achieved and I'm just glad that I got over the line.

“At the start of the year I wrote down I was going to be Commonwealth champion, I've always believed in myself, ever since I was a kid.”

“I wrote that down after the Ulster Elites and stuff...I knew 1st of August was Commonwealth Final Day and I didn't just write it down or dream about it, I worked for it.

“I worked my behind off for it every single day and I got here in the end.

“I was always a confident kid, and I always believed in myself but it's if I could stay the course and enjoy the setbacks and the disappointments and stuff.

“A lot of people just throw their head up but I always believed that I could do it.

"I finally did it today and it was a hard, hard fight...I dug deep and got there.

“Fair play to my mummy and daddy they kept me on the straight and narrow, they helped me anyway they could...this is their gold medal as much as it's mine.”

It was his family that got McConnell into boxing.

“My grandad boxed, Seanie Brown...my mum’s dad,” he said. "But I fell in love with boxing when I was a kid and it's just been my life ever since.”

McConnell reflected on his fights during the Commonwealth Games.

“I mean they were tough fights," he said. “I mean the first fight I pulled through was a close fight.

“I had a convincing win against Scotland to be fair, it was one of the toughest fights I've had to be honest.

"I mean he could hit me.

“I knew he was on form coming into it, he had a few knockouts and stuff in his previous fights here.

"But, yeah, I just believed in myself and I stuck to the game plan the coaches gave me.

“I got there again here in the end, I'm tired now and I'm busted to be honest...it was a hard, hard fight but I pulled though.

“I mean I thought I won the first, I was easing myself into it the first two rounds.

"And I was going ‘it's going to be easier than I thought’ and then he clipped me with a right hand I'm like ‘oh I know what the power's all about now’...he could hit.

“We came back after the first round and just changed a few things in the corner and I thought I won the second and third.

"Close enough but I thought I'd done the better work.”

McConnell described his emotions when he was declared the winner.

“The first fight I was bouncing up and down I was ecstatic but in that one there, I just dropped on my knees, I was exhausted,” he said. “I mean it's been a long time coming, I didn't even have the energy.

"I was just like crying, it was more of a relief, I've done it, I can't believe it still to be honest.

"It doesn't feel real...I worked so hard.”

McConnell caused a bit of a stir when he revealed before the Commonwealth Games he’d turned Love Island down to go to Glasgow.

“All the coaches, everyone around me knows I like to have a laugh about stuff like that,” said McConnell about the popular reality tv show and opportunity to appear on screen. “My fashion and my dress sense and my hair and this, that and the other and my skin care.

"But I'm a boxer first.

"I'm a hard man as well, everyone thinks it's the pretty boy.

"But in the boxing ring I'm a tough man to beat.”

McConnell revealed an unusual ingredient to his success.

“Skittles have been a pre-fight meal, it’s worked on this tournament anyway so I'm going to keep the tradition going.

“I actually watched a boxer years ago doing it, it’s about fast carbs...we have a good nutritionist in Steven Floyd and he stocked up on them and it seemed to work.”

Walsh lost 5-0 in her contest, as did Rock.

​The 33-year-old Walsh won gold in the featherweight final in 2022 but would have to settle for silver this time around against her opponent from India.

All five judges awarded world number one Jaismine Lamboria the victory.

However, Walsh is the first Team NI boxer with four Commonwealth Games medals.

Rock, in the women’s 65kg final against England’s Sacha Hickey.

Richard Archibald, the Sport NI interim CEO, said: “Northern Ireland has a long history of boxing success at the Commonwealth Games and the team in Glasgow has continued this legacy with distinction.

"We are proud to support boxing in Northern Ireland with National Lottery funding to support the clubs, coaches and programmes that give young athletes the chance to progress.”