A WEST BELFAST mental health facility is in for a £20,000 windfall after local boxer Michael Conlan auctioned the shorts from his exhilarating bout with Leigh Wood. 

The fight, which saw Conlan narrowly lose out on the WBA featherweight title, has resulted in a huge win for the West Belfast Sports Wellbeing Forum as it receives some much-needed funds to recruit counsellors. 

Conlan, who is ambassador of the forum, took to Twitter on St Patrick's Day to auction the shorts he wore at the Motorpoint Arena the previous weekend.

"For St Patricks Day I want to give back to a cause that’s close to my heart," he tweeted.

An incredible bid of £20,000 will go directly to the Dairy Farm-based mental health facility, which will help save lives in the West Belfast community and beyond.

West Belfast Sports Wellbeing Forum Co-Founder Gerard Mallon said he was "blown away" by the initiative.

"We need good ambassadors that raise awareness and Michael has been very vocal from day one about mental health in the community," he said.

"For him to be on board as an ambassador and as a sporting icon for people to look up to is unbelievable.

"We're in the process of trying to raise £150,000 to employ five key members of our care team so that we can provide immediate care to people in mental distress. It's huge in the fact that it allows us to kick that off with an immediate £20,000 bonus. It gives us a huge boost as we start our fundraising."

The Wellbeing Forum has provided over 1,000 hours of counselling and support to people in need. 

"We knew it would be busy, but we didn't realise it would be this busy and we're delivering well above what we thought we could," Gerard said.

"That has been with counsellors coming in and giving their time on a voluntary basis, with trainee counsellors coming and delivering a brilliant service, and then our befriending service has been amazing. The whole care team have been fantastic."