Tournament venue
Ireland claimed four wins from six on Day 3 of the European Olympic qualifiers in Samsun, Turkey.
Irish women’s boxing chalked up a hat-trick with Ceire Smith, Olympic champion Katie Taylor and Christina Desmond winning.
Cork giant killer Desmond stunned Dutch No. 1 seed Nouchka Fontijan, who is ranked No. 2 in the world at middleweight, to book her ticket into the last-eight.
Smith and Taylor recorded unanimous decisions over Hungarian and Czech Republic pair Virginia Barankas and Martina Schmoranzova.
All three Irish women are now two wins away from qualifying for Rio
Brendan Irvine also advanced to the quarter-finals. The No. 1 seed in Samsun in the flyweight class produced a big third round to see off Germany’s Hamza Touba.
Dean Walsh and Dean Gardiner, who both won on Saturday, bowed out to Azerbaijan’s Lorenzo Sotomayor and Mahammadrausl Majidov, an ex World Elite champion.
One judge marked the fight 30-27 to Walsh, but the other two leaned 29-28 in favour of the No. 1 seed, while Gardiner was beaten on a unanimous decision.
Irish team manager Joe Hennigan, describing Desmond’s win as sensational, hailed the performances of all six Irish boxers.
London 2012 Olympian Darren O’Neill, David Oliver Joyce and Michael O’Reilly are in action on Tuesday.
The top three boxes in the male weights – the finalists and winner of box-offs between the beaten semi-finalists – and the top two females (the finalists) in the three Olympic weights for women – flyweight, lightweight and middleweight – qualify for Rio 2016.
European Olympic qualifiers Samsun, Turkey
(A & E denotes Afternoon and Evening sessions)
April 9th
Preliminaries
64kg Dean Walsh (Ireland) beat Erik Agataljan (Czech Republic) 3-0
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) beat Simen Nysater (Norway) 3-0
April 11th
Last 16
51kg Ceire Smith (Ireland) beat Virginia Barankas (Hungary) 3-0
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) beat Hamza Touba (Germany) 3-0
64kg Dean Walsh (Ireland) lost to Lorenzo Sotomayor (Azerbaijan) 1-2
60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) beat Martina Schmoranzova (Czech Republic) 3-0
75kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) beat Nouchka Fontijan (Netherlands) 2-0
91kg+ Dean Gardiner (Ireland) lost to Mahammadrausl Majidor (Azerbaijan) 0-3
April 12th
Last 16
60kg David Oliver Joyce (Ireland) v Otar Eranosyan (Georgia) (A)
75kg Michael O’Reilly (Ireland) v Ilari Kijala (Finland) (A)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Ireland) v Gabriel Richards (Sweden) (E)
April 13th
Q/Finals
51kg Ceire Smith (Ireland) v Tetyna Kob (Ukraine)
52kg Brendan Irvine (Ireland) v Hakam Cigdem (Turkey) or Ellie Konki (France)
60kg Katie Taylor (Ireland) v Yvonne Rasmussen (Denmark)
75kg Christina Desmond (Ireland) v Patra Scatmari (Hungary)
Irish squad
Female
51kg Ceire Smith (Cavan)
60kg Katie Taylor (Bray)
75kg Christina Desmond (Fr Horgans)
Male
52kg Brendan Irvine (St Pauls)
60kg David Oliver Joyce (AIBA Pro Boxing)
64kg Dean Walsh (St Joesphs/St Ibars)
75kg Michael O’Reilly (Portlaoise)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Paulstown)
91+kg Dean Gardiner (Clonmel)
Team manager: Joe Hennigan
Coaches: Zaur Antia, Eddie Bolger, John Conlan
Physiotherapist: Julianne Ryan
Sports Psychologist: Gerry Hussey
Doctor: Jim Clover
Performance Analyst: Alan Swanton