Commonwealth Games: Semi-final wins for Carly McNaul, Brendan Irvine, Kurt Walker and Aidan and Michaela Walsh

Northern Ireland could set a new Commonwealth Games gold medal record after a further five boxers won their semi-finals.

Carly McNaul, Brendan Irvine, Michaela and Aidan Walsh and Kurt Walker have joined Kristina O'Hara in the finals.

Flyweight duo, McNaul and Irvine, won their bouts convincingly while there were also wins for bantamweight Walker and Walsh siblings Aidan and Michaela.

But James McGivern and Steven Donnelly will have to settle for bronze medals.

Shooter Kirsty Barr secured Northern Ireland's 12th medal of the games with a dramatic silver in the women's trap.

Barr was involved in a tense shoot-off with home favourite Laetisha Scanlan that went down to the final shot before the Australian secured the gold medal.

In the men's trap competition, David Henning is in 13th place after the first day of qualifying with the final day of competition tomorrow.

Wrestler Sarah McDaid missed out on a place in the semi-finals after losing two of her bouts in the group stages.

'This is for you son'

On a day when seven Northern Ireland boxers are involved in semi-finals, McNaul was the first into the ring and the Belfast fighter comfortably beat Christine Ongare of Kenya by unanimous decision - even forcing her opponent to take a standing count - to advance to a gold medal showdown against Lisa Whiteside of England.

"I gave up my job and everything," said McNaul afterwards.

"I couldn't do it without my parents who are at home looking after my boy. This is for you son."

Irvine defeated Scotland's Reece McFadden 4-1 in a keenly contested semi-final and the Rio Olympian will now face Gaurav Solanki of India in the men's flyweight final.

Michaela Walsh, who is aiming to better her 2014 Commonwealth silver medal, battled her way to a deserved win in her featherweight semi-final against Alexis Pritchard of New Zealand.

In a scrappy contest, Walsh landed the cleaner shots against the taller Pritchard and forced her opponent to the canvas during the second round.

Although Walsh also appeared to control the final round she had to settle for a split decision verdict with four of the five judges awarding the fight to the Belfast boxer, who will face Australian Skye Nicolson in the final on Saturday.

Walker was the next Northern Irish fighter to step between the ropes and he had to work hard to earn a split decision victory over Canadian Eric Basran.

Walker, 23, won the contest 3-2 with all five judges marking the fight 29-28 but crucially three of them scored it in favour of the Lisburn boxer, who will now face European champion Peter McGrail of England in the final.

Aidan Walsh continued his march towards the welterweight gold with a dominant display against Fijian boxer Winston Hill.

The Monkstown Boxing Club fighter registered his third consecutive unanimous decision as he won convincingly on all five cards to set-up a final against Pat McCormack of England.

There was disappointment for McGivern, who sank to the canvas in anguish after losing his lightweight bout against India's Manish Kaushik.

The 2015 Commonwealth Youth champion lost 4-1 on a split decision, which means he will return home from Australia with a bronze medal.

Steven Donnelly was the last of the Northern Ireland squad in action but the veteran of three Commonwealth games was knocked to the floor during his semi-final defeat by Vikas Krishan of India.

The Ballymena middleweight was leading on four of the five scorecards after the opening round but he was unable to maintain the pace as Krishan scored a unanimous points win to book his place in the final.

Barr takes Trap silver

Barr was beaten to the gold medal in the women's trap in dramatic fashion during a tense final at the Belmont Shooting Centre.

The Craigavon shooter hit 69 of a possible 75 targets to finish in a tie for first place after the qualifying round and she continued that form in the final, which featured a field of just six competitors.

Barr and Scanlan were the last two shooters left in the contest after 40 targets and the pair drew level with just one shot remaining after Scanlan missed back-to-back targets with her 48th and 49th efforts.

The final went down down to the final target for both shooters but Barr missed her last shot, leaving Scanlan to claim a dramatic gold.

McDaid loses group decider

McDaid narrowly missed out on a place in the semi-finals of the women's 57kg freestyle wrestling after her three group bouts.

McDaid, 27, lost her opening contest to the world number two Odunayo Adekuoroye of Nigeria but needed just 20 seconds to win her second fight against Noellancia Genave of Mauritius, which was Northern Ireland's first wrestling win in 40 years.

It meant that a victory in her third and final group bout would secure a semi-final spot but McDaid was well beaten by Cameroon's Joseph Essombe Tiako.

Heptathlete Kate O'Connor secured an eighth place finish with a total of 5695 points.

O'Connor, 17, produced a throw of 46.34m in the javelin and recorded a leap of 5.64m in the long jump during the early session to sit in ninth place with one event remaining.

The teenager finished fourth in the first 800m heat in a time of 2:18.30 to improve one spot to eighth overall behind gold medal winner Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

"I was happy with my 800 metres and to come eighth in my first major championships is great," said O'Connor.

"I've learnt how to use the crowd. I definitely came in nervous but I eased into the competition and I need to learn how to use the crowd rather than be scared by it."

Also on the track, Adam Kirk-Smith finished eighth in a taxing men's 3,000m Steeplechase in a time of 8:48.40, which was almost 11 seconds outside his personal best.