McDonnell won with scores of 115-113 once and 117-111 twice on the judges’ scorecards. The result was rarely in doubt.
Hall did try to press the action but McDonnell managed to establish his jab and countered nicely to secure a comfortable decision victory.
The first session was a tentative one, but the bout exploded into life with two knockdowns in the second for Edwards.
Nelson valiantly fought back in the third, but Edwards caught him with a sweet right hand to lay Nelson flat on the canvas and Howard Foster called an end to the contest without the need for a count.
Edwards now holds a fringe version of the WBA belt and could face stablemate Kal Yafai at some point in the near future.
Arfan Iqbal retained his English cruiserweight title with a majority draw against Simon Vallily with scores of 96-92 Vallily, 95-94 Iqbal and 94-94.
In a dirty, aggressive fight, Vallily started the fight the faster but seemed to slow down as Iqbal pushed forward. Vallily became frustrated and started to hit on the break. After several warnings, Vallily was deducted two points and risked disqualification.
Iqbal seemed to dominate the middle rounds but Vallily finished the stronger in the final round to close the curtain on an entertaining, scrappy bout.
Former world champion Ricky Burns defeated Ivan Njegac when the Croatian didn’t get off his stool for the fifth round in what was a scheduled six-round contest.
It was a 50th professional outing for ‘The Rickster’ who will be hoping for a tougher test next time out after shaking off his ring rust.
Thomas Davison is a staff writer for World Boxing News. Follow Thomas on Twitter @thomasdavison93