Ireland record series win over China despite defeat at the National Stadium

China beat Ireland 6-4 at the National Stadium in Dublin tonight in the third and final meeting between the nations. But Ireland win out the series 2-1 and 22-12 on aggregate after beating China 9-3 in Waterford on Wednesday night and 9-3 in Wexford last Sunday.Ryan Lindberg, Eric Donovan, Ken Egan and Conrad Cummings registered victories for Ireland this evening.

Egan recorded a 13-9 win over Fanlong Meng in the light-heavyweight category and said he was happy to return to winning ways at the home of Irish boxing. The three-rounder was his first bout with a Chinese opponent since he controversially lost the 2008 Olympic final to Xiaoping Zhang in Beijing - and his first bout at the National Stadium since he lost to Joe Ward in last month's Elite light-heavyweight final."I knew I had to go for it in the last round, but I'm pretty happy with the way I pulled things out, " he said. "I had two demons to deal with here - my loss to Joe Ward in the final of the championships last month and my loss in the Olympic final the last time I met a Chinese fighter."

Donovan, a bronze medal winner at the 2010 European Championships, recorded the most impressive win of the night for Ireland - a 14-6 verdict over Quiang Lio, but his St Michael's Athy team-mate Roy Sheehan lost out to Qiong Maimaitituersun. "I won all three rounds, and I certainly felt like I had him under control. I think I boxed pretty well, and it's always good to get top level opposition like this," said Donovan.

Meanwhile, Belfast bantamweight Ryan Lindberg had seven points to spare over Hongliang Zhang, but Ceire Smite dropped a 13-7 decision to Yujie Luo. Kelly Harrington was named as a late replacement for Katie Taylor, who suffered a tooth infection, and the Corinthinas, Dublin club-woman gave a fine performance despite losing to World number 2 Cheng Dong. Belfast's Conrad Cummings was in top form, a 13-7 win over Jainting Zhang winning out the middleweight duel. Stephen Ward was disqualified in round three versus Maimaiti Zaifula. Zhilei Zhang, who claimed silver at the Beijing Olympics, recorded a comprehensive 24-2 win over Cathal McMonagle in the final bout of the evening.