The National senior boxing championships at the National Stadium tonight (7.30) promise to attract a sell-out attendance, mainly because no fewer than 11 counties from all four provinces are represented and that most of the bouts seem to indicate closely-contested competition even though eight reigning champions will be in action.

One champion is already assured of retaining his trophy. He is James Rooney from the Star in Belfast, who is unopposed in the light-flyweight division, but with 11 contests to be decided in the presence of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, a fascinating night's boxing seems assured.

Naturally, the fate of the eight reigning champions will attract the most attention and these are well scattered throughout the programme. The first such clash will be in the featherweight division where Pat O'Donnell from the Dockers club in Belfast will meet Terry Carlysle (Sacred Heart, Dublin). The fact that Carlysle has won three bouts to reach this stage, including a 15-7 defeat of Damien McKenna from Drogheda, suggests that O'Donnell may have a lot of difficulty.

At lightweight, another member of the Carlysle clan, Aodh, will challenge for the title against the holder, Eugene McEneaney, and could bring off a rare family double.

At welter there will be much speculation about whether Francie Barrett from Galway, fighting out of London, can regain the laurels by beating the man in posession, Neil Gough from Waterford.

Gough beat Sean Barrett in the quarter-final and stopped John Morrissey in the semi-final while Barrett advanced at the expense of Sean Colgan on an early stoppage but struggled to beat Robert Murray by a single point in the semifinal, suggesting that this is going to be very close again.

Stephen Reynolds from Sligo is a hot favourite to retain his superheavyweight crown. He has reached the final without throwing a single punch, though his opponent John Kinsella from Crumlin has stopped both John White (Newry) and Tom Clare (Buncrana) inside the distance. At heavyweight, the holder John Kiely from Limerick will meet Ben McGarrigle from Omagh. The latter scored the only knock-out of the championships on his way to the final while Kiely stopped his opponent in the third round in the other half of the draw.

Liam Cunningham, the flyweight champion from Belfast, meets Martin Murphy (Waterford) and is favourite to keep his trophy while at light-middle Michael Roche (Sunnyside Cork) takes on his fellow-countyman, Michael Fitzgerald from Ballyvolane. Brian Magee from Belfast defends against Kevin Walsh from Cork in the middleweight division.

The titles open to newcomers will be at bantam, where Bernard Dunne from Dublin will meet Michael Burke (Gorey), and at light-heavy where Adrian Sheerin (Swinford) faces Alo Kelly (Brosna). Also, at light-welter, Mark Wickham (Enniscorthy) meets Paul McCloskey (St Canice's Derry) for the vacant title.