Jon McConnell wins Commonwealth gold after turning down Love Island

The 23-year-old turned down the chance to appear on the latest series of Love Island after applying and instead opted to go to the Commonwealth Games.

That decision will have felt vindicated when his hand was raised as the winner of Commonwealth gold in the men's 70kg final via split decision over Wales' Orlando Holley-Sotomi on Saturday.

He's not ruling out a future appearance in the famous villa, although that is put on hold for now as he continues to go from strength to strength in his fledgling boxing career.

"The decision [not to go on Love Island] paid off. If I had have got put out in the first round I might have went 'did I make the right decision?'," he told BBC Sport NI.

"But a gold medal now so they can give me a shout if they want."

How close he ever really came to appearing on the reality show is a bit of mystery.

He shared a photo on his Instagram story on the morning of Saturday's final showing that on 28 December last year he had marked Saturday, 1 August 2026 as the day he would win Commonwealth gold.

That prediction came true and in impressive fashion.

Holley-Sotomi, who had been "dynamite" on his way to the final according to McConnell, had started well in the gold medal bout, but the NI fighter was unperturbed after a difficult first round.

He changed tact and opted to come roaring back, landing with some big shots of his own.

It culminated in a split decision victory and the fulfilment of a childhood dream.

"I had written that down on 28 December, but that has been a goal since I was eight or nine years of age. I didn't just write it down, I worked for it every day to get to this point and I'm here, Commonwealth Games gold medallist, it's unbelievable," he explained.

"That was a hard, hard fight. He was big, he was strong and he had knocked a few out, but I boxed well. He caught me in the first round and it stung me a bit, woke me up and we changed the tactics, I was busier and stayed away from his backhand.

"It was a close fight, it could have went either way, but I felt I landed the cleaner shots and with a bit of luck, I got there in the end."

The victory brings NI's one and only boxing gold and only their second gold of the Games overall after Kate O'Connor won the heptathlon on Wednesday.

McConnell joked that it was "not bad company" to be in and how he is determined to, like O'Connor, keep striving for further success.

"I was waiting for the right tournament that would put me on the world stage. I was building and building, so it's time to push on for bigger things and we'll see what happens next."

McConnell may have taken the only gold but it was a successful Games for the boxing team as a whole with half of the 12-strong squad taking home a medal.

Michaela Walsh and Kaci Rock also leave Glasgow with a silver while Willie John McCartan, Garyn McAllister and Jude Gallagher, champion four years ago, all claimed bronze.

There was much made of the age profiles of the squad heading over to Glasgow, with eight aged 25 or under and nine competing at their first Games.

While Louis Rooney, Janssen Hill, Eoghan Quinn and JP Hale all fell at the first hurdle, they were the only four to not win at least one bout.

Nicole Clyde and Caitlin Fryers made it to the quarter-final stage while McCartan, McAllister and Gallagher exited at the semi-finals.

Some did receive the luck of the draw, with Walsh, Rock, Walsh, Hill, McAllister and McCartan going straight through to quarter-finals where they were one win away from a medal, but they still had to seize the initiative and push on.

For Walsh, it was a fourth successive medal at the Games, her third silver to add to the two from 2014 and 2018 and the gold from 2022.

She joins bowler Neil Booth, shooter Martin Millar plus Mike Bull and Lady Mary Peters from athletics on four medals at the Games.

Only shooter David Calvert has won more with eight.

She was "speechless" to hear her name mentioned among those greats, but her achievements demonstrate her longevity and she's not finished yet.

"I'm proud of my performances throughout the whole tournament. I have Europeans now in six weeks and I'm using this as a springboard to that and I'm ready to go again," she said.

"[Four medals] It's obviously an amazing achievement. I'm lucky, I love boxing and I'm doing what I love. It's a lifetime of work and it's amazing for the medals to show that."

While Walsh is used to such an occasion, it was easy for younger members of the team to be overawed at a first multi-sport competition, but Rock showed maturity beyond her years, particularly in fighting back to win the semi-final after losing the first round.

For Rock, like McConnell, it's a first major medal at her first Games and she believes it is just the start for her and many of her team-mates.

"I think so many people doubted our team because we're a younger, fresher and inexperienced team but we have six medals coming home.

"We've proven we're only getting started and there's so much more to come."