Nominations are now being accepted for the 2025 Volunteers in Sport Awards, a national celebration of the extraordinary individuals who contribute to the vibrant fabric of Irish sports.

2024 awards were bestowed upon Paddy Joe of Star BC Belfast as the Antrim winner, Brian McKeown of Cavan BC as the Cavan winner, Myles Cresham of Castlebar BC as Mayo’s Volunteer of the Year and Lynda McGrath of Tralee BC was the Kerry winner. 

Hosted by the Federation of Irish Sport and supported by the Sport Ireland National Network of 29 Local Sports Partnerships these prestigious awards recognise the selfless volunteers who dedicate their time, skills, and passion to support sports clubs and community organisations across Ireland. 

The 2025 Volunteers in Sport Awards will bring together individuals from all 32 counties to celebrate their commitment to fostering participation and ensuring that sport is accessible to all.

Their contributions not only inspire communities but also enable clubs and organisations to thrive, supporting social cohesion and well-being across Ireland. Without their dedication, many sporting opportunities simply would not exist. 

A new addition to the 2025 awards is the launch of a brand-new award – the Club/Community Sport Organisation Award. This award recognises a volunteer led sports club, community organisation, or group that has made an outstanding contribution to promoting sport, physical activity, and community well-being. It celebrates excellence in inclusion, participation, leadership, and positive impact through sport.

There are also two closed categories of Outstanding Achievement Award and the addition of a Lifetime Achievement Award. These prestigious awards are not open for public nomination. Recipients are selected by the Judging Panel from entries received from the County Volunteers, based on outstanding merit, impact, or long-term contribution.

Nominations are open until December 15^th. The awards celebration will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown in Dublin on 26^th February 2026. 

To submit a nomination, visit www.volunteersinsport.ie   

A 23 strong team has been named to contest the European U17 Championships in Kienbaum Germany – the inaugural World Boxing confederation-level champions for 15 and 16 year old athletes.

The team of National Champions includes boxers from 8 counties: Antrim (6),Cork (3) Donegal (1), Dublin (5), Galway (2), Tipperary (1) Westmeath (3) and Wexford (2) – among them mulitple European medalists at Schools/U15 and Junior/U17 levels.

The team is led and managed by Anna Moore of St. Francis BC, Limerick and Joey Simpson, Saviours Crystal BC, Waterford. The team is coached by Valerie Hamilton of St. Francis BC, Limerick, Liam Cunningham of Saints BC, Antrim, Linda Morgan of Arklow BC, Wicklow and John Coffey, Sliabh Luachra BC, Kerry. Joe Lowe of St. Paul’s ABC Belfast has been nominated as an R&J.

Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, England, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine are the 29 registered nations in the competition. Around 300 boxers are expected to contest the championships.

Competition Structure

The draw, which sets out the path to the podium for each boxer, is scheduled to take place at 6pm, Irish time, on Tuesday December 9th.

Boxing begins on December 10th, and two rings will be in operation from the preliminary stage to the conclusion of all quarter finals on the evening of December 15th.

All Afternoon Sessions will begin at 10am, Irish time, and boxing in the Evening Session will get underway at 2.30pm.

European Boxing is expected to live-stream the tournament on its YouTube channel

There is no rest day at this competition and all semi finals will be boxed on December 16th. Finals and medal ceremonies take place on December 17th.

Team Ireland will return to Dublin Airport at 11.45am on Thursday, December 18th.

Team Ireland

46kg | Louise Joyce | Olympic BC, Westmeath

46kg | Pat Stokes | Mullingar Shuffler BC, Westmeath

48kg | Abby Murray |Muskerry BC, Cork

48kg | Emmet Shields | Glasnevin BC, Dublin

50kg | Lucie Prentice, Banbridge BC, Antrim

50kg | Kristian Jubani | Crumlin BC, Dublin

52kg | Aleigha Murphy | Ballybrack BC, Dublin

52kg | Sean Kelly | St Abbans/Kilmyshall BC, Wexford

54kg | Paige Nickels | Banbridge BC, Antrim

54kg | Michael McDonagh | Avona BC, Dublin

57kg | Ella Archbold |Ballybrack BC, Dublin

57kg | Kalib Walshe | Wexford CBS, Wexford

60kg | Ruth Dossen | Olympic BC, Galway

60kg | Jason Donoghue | Olympic BC, Westmeath

63kg | Claire Crowley | St Martha’s BC, Cork

63kg | Padraig Walsh | Immaculata BC, Antrim

66kg |Alesha Mullis Boyle | Dungloe BC, Donegal

66kg | Kai Dynes Murphy | Immaculata BC, Antrim

70kg | Cassie Henderson | Phoenix ABC, Antrim

70kg |Conor Dowds | Immaculata BC, Antrim

75kg |Isabelle Hawkins | St Nicholas BC, Tipperary

75kg |John Ward | Monivea BC, Galway

80+kg |William Heaphy, Golden Gloves BC, Cork

Support Staff

Team Managers | Anna Moore, St. Francis BC, Limerick | Joey Simpson, Saviours Crystal BC, Waterford

Coaches | Valerie Hamilton, St. Francis BC, Limerick | Liam Cunningham, Saints BC, Antrim

Linda Morgan, Arklow BC, Wicklow | John Coffey, Sliabh Luachra BC, Kerry

Referee/Judge | Joe Lowe, St. Paul’s ABC, Belfast

IABA will deliver a minimum of 16 Safeguarding learning workshops in 2026.

This will include at least 12 online Safeguarding One workshops, and 4 online Safeguarding Two workshops.

All adults – coaches, committee members & non-coaching volunteers – in every club who have contact with children are required to have undertaken Safeguarding 1.

Commissioned Workshops

IABA is open, on request, to providing Safeguarding One and/or Safeguarding Two learning in person, at a county board or provincial unit level.

County Boards and Provinical Units who wish to commission in-person delivery of this learning are invited to make contact with IABA National Safeguarding Manager, Stephen Flynn, via stephen@iaba.ie

Safeguarding One Workshops

Month	Date	Day	Time
January	14th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
February	4th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
March	11th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
April	15th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
May	16th	Saturday	10.00-13.00
June	17th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
July	15th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
August	14th	Friday	13.00-16.00
September	12th	Saturday	10.00-13.00
October	16th	Friday	13.00-16.00
November	11th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
December	9th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00

Safeguarding Two Workshops

Month	Date	Day	Time
February	11th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
May	20th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
August	26th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00
November	25th	Wednesday	18.00-21.00

Registration

On completion of THIS LINK and in advance of your selected Safeguarding Workshop, your club will receive an invitation to pay your €20 fee through the club’s Blocworx portal.

You will receive a link to attend the workshop on the day of the workshop.

The Irish Athletic Boxing Association is delighted to affirm the appointment of Damian Kennedy as Interim High Performance Head Coach, following the retirement from Irish Boxing of Zauri Antia.

Hailing from Toome on the shores of Lough Neagh in County Antrim, Damian has 3 decades of coaching experience at all levels of the IABA.  Damian was TeamNI Boxing Head Coach for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, when the team topped the medals table with a record number of podium finishes. An Olympic coach, he has also held event-specific leadership roles at National level, including as Head Coach of the Team Ireland at the 2^nd Olympic Qualifier in Bangkok, when four boxers booked their seats on the plane to Paris in addition to coaching at the Games.

Damian has been honoured for his coaching and leadership abilities by Sport NI in its 2023 Sportmaker Awards, and was named a “Game Changer” by the UK National Lottery Good Causes in 2024 as having made a pivotal contribution to boxing and to his community.

Interim High Performance Head Coach Damian Kennedy said “It’s an honour to lead the National programme on an interim basis, to build on the legacy of boxing technical excellence learned from and with Zauri. He and I worked hand-in-glove to prepare boxers for the highest levels of competition across many years, ably assisted by High Performance coaches in Dublin and in Ulster. There’s an exciting and challenging competition period just around the corner, and I look forward to further supporting IABA boxers in achieving their goals.”

High Performance Director, Jon Mackey, said “Damian has already brought a wealth of boxing technical skills to High Performance over the last 4 years, and has a proven track record of achievement in terms of his contribution to podium finishes, athlete development and talent ID. His athlete-first instincts, coupled with his innate mentorship skills and strategic planning abilities mean he is ideally placed to lead on boxer development and support during the early stages of our first full year of World Boxing competition”

Chief Executive Gary Stewart said “Continuity of excellence is vital in a High Performance setting, and for the future of Irish Boxing. Damian is highly regarded at home and internationally, with excellent working relationships in both settings. We’re delighted that he has accepted this interim position”

As stated at the occasion of Zauri’s retirement from Irish Boxing,  IABA intends to begin recruitment for the High Performance Head Coach in the New Year.

ENDS.

Central Council has confirmed the dates of the first 7 National Championships of 2026.

All below competitions will be boxed at the National Stadium Dublin. Central Council has held February free of competition for boxers BG1-J2 to enable applicable competition in Provincial Units.

2026 National Elite Championships

This competition, for Elite athletes aged 19 to 40 by year of birth in 2026, will take place:

January 9th, 10th and 11th, and January 16th and 17th.

The number of days boxed will be dependent on entries.

2026 National BG4, Junior 1 & Junior 2 Championships

These three championships will be boxed concurrently on the following dates:

March 6th, 7th and 8th, and March 13th, 14th and 15th.

The BG4 Championship is for boxers born in 2011.

The Junior 1 Championship is for boxers born 2010

The Junior 2 Championship is for boxers born 2009

2026 National BG 1, 2 & 3 Championships

These three championships will be boxed concurrently on the following dates:

April 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th. 

The BG1 Championship is for boxers born in 2014

The BG2 Championship is for boxers born 2013

The BG3 Championship is for boxers born 2012