Twin Towns boxer Donna Barr is aiming to be back at full tilt for next month’s Senior Elite Championships.

Donna Barr

Barr, who lost out in her last Elite venture, in November 2015 when she was narrowly beaten by Lauren Hogan, has recently returned to training following a hand injury.

A three-time Irish champion, Barr had been planning to compete in the European Championships in Bulgaria but, while on a training camp in Sheffield, she fractured a bone in her hand and dislocated a thumb.

Although initially fearing that her prospects of competing in the Senior Elite Championships were in jeopardy, Barr is now more hopeful.

At the weekend, she was back in the ring and sparred Aodhán Byrne, a Leinster champion from the Kilcullen club in Kildare whose mother, Sinead Long, is a native of Carrickmagrath in Ballybofey.

Byrne himself is a prospect with high hopes for 2017 and the rounds will have aided Barr’s own hopes for next month.

This year will see female bothers like Barr compete over three three-minute rounds as opposed to the four two-minute stanzas that had been used until now.