Born on 3 November 1932 at 13 Cinnamond Street in the Pound Loney district of Belfast’s Falls Road, McNally discovered boxing at the Immaculata Youth Club on the Lower Falls Road in 1945, becoming the club’s first Irish champion in 1946 at juvenile level. He later moved to the White City Club where he worked with coach Sammy Wallace – ‘a master of the art of ring craft’, in McNally’s own words – who transformed him into a technical boxer of outstanding quality. He won the Ulster and Irish junior flyweight titles in 1951 and the senior double in 1952, earning his Olympic place through a box-off against Paddy Kelty.

In Helsinki, McNally received a first-round bye and then proceeded through the tournament with three successive unanimous victories: he dominated the Filipino Alejandro Ortuoste, outclassed the 1951 European champion Vincenzo Dall’Osso of Italy with superior footwork and counter-punching, and floored Korean Jun-Ho Gang for a count of eight in the semi-final before finishing comfortably. In the final against the partisan-supported Hämäläinen, McNally outboxed his opponent in the opening rounds, landing clean hooks and having the Finn on the ropes, before the Finn’s stronger finish in the third round secured the split decision. The Finnish champion was cautioned repeatedly during the bout for hitting with the inside of the glove and using his head. British judge Lainson Wood of the Daily Telegraph described the verdict as ‘the last fling of outrageous fortune of the 1952 Olympic Games’; Irish team manager Christy Murphy observed that ‘Most of Hämäläinen’s blows were definitely and obviously hit with open gloves.’ McNally returned to a Belfast railway station thronged with thousands of well-wishers, was placed on the roof of a taxi and paraded through the city towards 13 Cinnamond Street.