A mammoth 39 bouts were decided on the second day of boxing in the 2025 National U17 Championships.

Over 130 boxers from throughout the Association have entered this competition, for boxers against 15 and 16.

The finals of the boys 40kg & 44kg divisions, and the girls 46kg, 48kg and 63kg categories will be boxed on Sunday, September 14th.

Venues

Boxing on September 12th, 13th and 14th will take place in Holy Family BC, Drogheda 

Weigh-ins: Friday 8-9am & 12-1pm and Saturday & Sunday 8-9am

Boxing on Friday will begin a 6pm, and there’s an 11am start for boxing on Saturday and Sunday

The Semi Finals & Finals will be boxed at the National Stadium, Dublin, on September 19th and 20th, respectively.

Weigh-ins: Friday 8-9am & 12-1pm / Saturday 8-9am

Boxing on Friday begins at 6pm, and gets underway on Saturday at 11am.

Advisory

• Boxers may not wear international kit – boxers may wear club kit, only. 
• The length of the shorts or the skirt must not be shorter than mid-thigh.
• The withdrawal of any boxer must be notified to the National Registrar Stephen Connolly, phone: 086 1546746 as soon as possible

Results – Saturday, September 13th

57kg   Eoin Bennett (John McCoy) W/O

57kg   John Nevin (Olympic C) beat Daire McGuinness (St Monicas), 5-0

57kg   Dean O’Halloran (Glasnevin) beat Wade Passfield (O’Rourke’s), 5-0

57kg   Kalib Walshe (Wexford CBS) beat Davey Nevin (Mullingar Shuffler), 5-0

60kg   CJ Gillen (Phoenix U) W/O

60kg   Nikodem Pedyk (Togher) beat Isaac Tennant (Lucan), 3-2

60kg   Jason Donoghue (Olympic L W/O

63kg   Cathal Conlon (Ballyhaunis) beat Ruairi Walker (Corpus Christi A), 4-1

63kg   David McDonagh (St Munchin’s) beat James Rooney (Immaculata), 3-2

63kg   Francis Regan (Immaculata)  W/O

63kg   Padraig Walsh (Immaculata) beat Lorcan Holohan (Portlaoise), 3-2

66kg   Kai Dynes (Immaculata) beat Niall O’Driscoll (Muskerry), 5-0

66kg   Phoenix Kenny (Baldoyle) beat Jude McLaughlin (Antrim), 4-1

42kg   Harry Reddington (Cherry Orchard) beat Alex Harris (Ballybough), 5-0

66kg   Rubin Fitzgerald (Corinthians) W/O

66kg   Darren O’Toole (Jobstown) beat Abdul Ogunse (St Brigids Edenderry), 5-0

70kg   Conor Dowds (Immaculata) W/O

70kg   Martin Sweeney (Galway)  beat Michael J Sweeney (Olympic C), 3-2

75kg   Kevin Pukuta (Portlaoise) beat Liam Boland (Avona), 5-0

75kg   John McDonagh (Galway) beat Thomas Maguire (Holy Family), 5-0

75kg   John Ward (Monivea) beat John M Barrett (Olympic), 4-1

75kg   Joe Ritchie (St John Bosco) beat Patrick Saunders (Immaculata), RSC2

80kg   Senan Kennedy (Cabra) W/O

42kg   Jude Reilly (Immaculata) W/O

46kg   Joshua Cairns (Oakleaf)  beat Donnacha Beagan (Sean Dorans), 5-0

46kg   Pat J Stokes (Mullingar Shuffler) W/O

48kg   Emmet Shields (Glasnevin) beat Colin O’Brien (Ballymun), RSC2

50kg   Lucie Prentice (Banbridge) beat Alanna Murphy (Ballybrack), 3-2

52kg   Sean Kelly (St Abbans/Kilmyshall) beat Lee Largey Snodden (Immaculata), 3-2

52kg   Alex Pepper (Baldoyle) beat Cian Smyth (Tredagh), 5-0

54kg   Paige Nickels (Banbridge) beat Milena Lucaci (Lucan), 4-1

54kg   Daisy Kiernan (Dealgan) W/O

54kg   Conan McSorley (Two Castles) beat Jack Cahill (Portlaoise), 5-0

54kg   Michael McDonagh (Avona) beat Jason Nowamagbe (Holy Family), 4-0

57kg   Layla Kelly (Baldoyle) W/O

70kg   Cassie Henderson (Phoenix U) W/O  

70kg   Gianna Duffy (Unit 3) W/O

80+kg Michael J McDonagh (Tredagh)  W/O

80+kg William Heaphy (Golden Gloves M) beat Callum F Barrett (Olympic C), 4-1

Sunday, September 14th.

Boxing, at Holy Family BC Drogheda. All programmes are subject to change

Team Ireland’s Aoife O’Rourke has up-graded her World Championship medal to at least a silver. She was the 4-0 victor over 2023 Word Champ China’s Chengyu Wang in her semi-final.

This was a tumultuous and highly physical contest, which included a 1^st point deduction and a 3^rd round standing count for Wang. Judges scored the bout 28: 28, 27: 29, 26:30, 27:29, 26: 30

She’ll box for gold in Sunday’s Afternoon Session against Turkey’s Busra Isildar – a World and European medalist. This will be the double Olympian and four time continental champion’s second World final this year. She returned from the IBA Women’s World Championship with silver in March.

Speaking to World Boxing after her bout, the Castlerea woman says her coaches will put together a great plan for her final “You’d be some athlete if you win and replicate everything they’re telling you can do. I’ll take small little chunks and hopefully I’ll be able to implement them. No doubt, they’ll put a great plan together and it’ll come down to me trying to implement it in the ring”

Of the huge wave of Irish support in the M&S Arena, she says “It’s incredible. There were times in that fight and I was like – will this girl just step away and let me breathe for a second – but then you hear the crowd, you hear the support and say there’s not long left, just get in to that next gear and push on. Only for them, you definitely would notice you’re energy levels dropping. They’re amazing to be coming over.

These championships are the first since 2015 in which Ireland has won 3 world medals at a single tournament. Patsy Joyce is also the first male boxer to medal at world level since his cousin, Rio Olympian Joe Ward, won silver in Hamburg in 2017.

Medals Table

Ireland will finish the tournament in a group of nations fifth on the medals table. Uzbekistan is top, with 11 medals, followed by Kazakhstan with 10.

China and England both have 5 medals – Brazil and India have four. Cuba, Ireland, Australia, Japan, Poland and Turkey all have 3.

 In all, 66 nations and 540 boxers are contesting this tournament, the first in which men and women jointly vie for World titles. 35 nations will return home without having medaled.

Development

On-going technical development is a key focus for Team Ireland for post-competition athletes at benchmark events.

This includes targeted sparring after a period of post-competition recovery, and is tailored to each boxer. Today, Team Ireland’s Adam Hession, Brian Kennedy and Louis Rooney sparring their Cuban counterparts.

Watch

World Boxing has partnered with Eurovision Sport to broadcast the Championship. Coverage, available HERE and on the RTE Player, HERE

Team Ireland

51kg Daina Moorehouse, of Enniskerry BC, Wicklow. Daina is from Bray, Co. Wicklow.

54kg Jenny Lehane of DCU Boxing Club, Dublin. Jenny is from Ashbourne, Co. Meath

57kg Michaela Walsh of Holy Family Golden Gloves BC Belfast.

60kg Zara Breslin of Tramore BC, Waterford.

65kg Grainne Walsh of St. Mary’s BC, Tallaght, Dublin. Grainne is from Tullamore, Co. Offaly

70kg Lisa O’Rourke of Castlerea BC, Co. Roscommon

75kg Aoife O’Rourke of Castlerea BC, Co. Roscommon. Team Co-Captain

50kg Louis Rooney of Star BC, Belfast

55kg Patsy Joyce of Olympic BC, Mullingar Co. Westmeath

60kg Adam Hession of Monivea BC, Co. Galway. Team Co-Captain

65kg Dean Clancy of Sean McDermott BC, Co. Leitrim. Dean is from Co. Sligo

70kg Matthew McCole of Illies Golden Glove BC Co. Donegal

75kg Gavin Rafferty of Dublin Docklands Boxing Club

80kg Kelyn Cassidy of Saviours Crystal BC, Co. Waterford

85kg Brian Kennedy of St. Brigid’s BC Edenderry Co. Offaly

90kg Jack Marley of Monkstown BC, Dublin

90+kg Martin McDonagh of Galway BC

Support Staff

• Team Manager: Jon Mackey, National Performance Director
• Head Coach: Zauri Antia
• Coaches: Damain Kennedy, Lynne McEnery, Eoin Pluck, James Doyle and JP Delaney
• Doctor: Jim Clover
• Lead Physio: Rob Tuomey
• Performance Analyst: Alan Swanton
• Logistics Support: Sean Crowley, High Performance Manager

22 preliminary and quarter final bouts were decided on the opening night of boxing in the 2025 National U17 Championships.

Over 130 boxers from throughout the Association have entered this competition, for boxers against 15 and 16.

The finals of the boys 40kg & 44kg divisions, and the girls 46kg, 48kg and 63kg categories will be boxed on Sunday, September 14th.

Venues

Boxing on September 12th, 13th and 14th will take place in Holy Family BC, Drogheda 

Weigh-ins: Friday 8-9am & 12-1pm and Saturday & Sunday 8-9am

Boxing on Friday will begin a 6pm, and there’s an 11am start for boxing on Saturday and Sunday

The Semi Finals & Finals will be boxed at the National Stadium, Dublin, on September 19th and 20th, respectively.

Weigh-ins: Friday 8-9am & 12-1pm / Saturday 8-9am

Boxing on Friday begins at 6pm, and gets underway on Saturday at 11am.

Advisory

• Boxers may not wear international kit – boxers may wear club kit, only. 
• The length of the shorts or the skirt must not be shorter than mid-thigh.
• The withdrawal of any boxer must be notified to the National Registrar Stephen Connolly, phone: 086 1546746 as soon as possible

Results – Friday, September 12th

Preliminaries

57kg   Kalib Walshe (Wexford CBS) W/O

57kg   Davey Nevin (Mullingar Shuffler) beat Patrick Brady (East Meath), 5-0

63kg   Padraig Walsh (Immaculata) W/O

66kg   Niall O’Driscoll (Muskerry) W/O

66kg   Phoenix Kenny (Baldoyle) beat Martin O’Donnell (Charleville), 5-0

66kg   Jude McLaughlin (Antrim) beat Patrick Ward (Olympic C), 5-0

66kg   Fabian Berko (Portlaoise) beat Rubin Fitzgerald (Corinthians), 5-0

66kg   Non-contest.

66kg   Abdul Ogunse (St Brigids Edenderry) beat Cayden Cummings (Cookstown), 4-1

66kg   Darren O’Toole (Jobstown) beat Darragh Ryan (Drimnagh), 3-2

75kg   Joe Ritchie (St John Bosco) beat Dylan O’Donovan (The Glen), RSC1

75kg   Patrick Saunders (Immaculata) beat Daniel Marchuk (St Brigids Edenderry), 5-0

Quarter Finals

42kg   Jude Reilly (Immaculata) beat Aiden Moore (Dealgan), 5-0

42kg   James Walsh (Ballybrack) beat Darragh Cunningham (Dealgan), 5-0

46kg   Donnacha Beagan (Sean Dorans) beat Zach Kenny (Elite Cork), 3-2

46kg   Joshua Cairns (Oakleaf) beat Mark Harte (Carrickmore), 3-2

46kg   Non-contest.

46kg   Pat J Stokes (Mullingar Shuffler) beat Oscar McFadden (Holy Trinity), 5-0

54kg   Conan McSorley (Two Castles) beat Blair Kirk (Killyman), 5-0

54kg   Jack Cahill (Portlaoise) beat Jack O’Laoghaire (Muskerry), 4-1

54kg   Jason Nowamagbe (Holy Family) W/O

54kg   Michael McDonagh (Avona) beat Jason McDonagh (Galway), 5-0

Saturday, September 14th

39 bouts will be boxed at Holy Family BC, Drogheda from 11am on Saturday morning.

All programme are subject to change.

Team Ireland’s Grainne Walsh will come home from the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool with a bronze medal, after a great campaign.

She contested her 65kg semi-final this evening against Kazakhstan’s Aida Abikeyeva. This was a high-tempo, close quarters bout and the 5-0 decision went to Abikeyeva. Judges scored the bout: 28:29, 28:29, 28:29, 28:29, 27: 30, showing the hair’s breadth margin between these two athletes. Abikeyeva is a 2025 World Boxing Cup champion, the 2024 Asian champion, and an IBA World champion.

Grainne continues “No athlete has an easy journey to the top. I feel like the things I’ve learned over the last couple of years I couldn’t learn in 10 lifetimes, and the people I’ve shared it with. That’s what its all about, the people that you meet along the way. Myself and my coach Damian had a great chat there as he was wrapping my hands (about that)….I’m just finding my feet now. I’ve announced myself on the World scene.”

Grainne carved her path to the semi-finals with a resounding Last 32 stage win over Jessica Triebelova of Slovakia, where she was dominant, coming away with a 5-0 win. She boxed a masterful contest at the Last 16 stage against Mariana Soto Torres of Spain, and a second unanimous decision. The Offaly woman claimed her bronze medal by defeating the Paris Olympics silver medalist China’s Yang Liu 3-2.

540 boxers from 66 federations are contesting these champions, the first in which men and women compete for World gold together. The competition is the biggest ever Olympic-style boxing event held in the UK, and includes 17 medalists from Paris 2024 and more than 30 boxers that competed at the most recent Olympic Games. It features action at 10 weight classes for men and women with 80 medals being handed out, including 20 golds.

Semi-Finals, Day Two

Two more Team Ireland boxers will vie to up-grade their medals, with their semi finals taking place on Saturday.

Double Olympian and four time continental champion Aoife O’Rourke contests to step-up the 75kg podium against China’s Chengyu Yang – That’s Bout 6, and will take place at around 1.30pm. The Castlerea Co. Roscommon woman got to the semi finals with a 5-0 win over Czech Republic’s Monika Langerova, and a 4-1 win over fellow Olympian, Sunniva Hofstad of Norway. Hofstad is the only boxer this year, male or female, to have won gold at all World Boxing Cups.

Westmeath’s Patsy Joyce, boxing at 55kg, will take on Spain’s Rafael Serrano Lozano, a Paris Olympian. Patsy is one of the youngest members of Team Ireland at just 19 years of age, and has parried & side-stepped his way to the semi finals with three wins. The first, over Jaeyong Shin of Korea, the second over Cuban-born Bulgarian Olympian and World and European medalist, Javier Ibanez Diaz, and the third over Uzbekistan’s Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov – an Asian champion and World Boxing Cup medalist. The latter two of Patsy’s opponents are more than a decade his senior. Patsy steps between the ropes in Bout 10, at approximately 2.30pm.

Speaking after winning his quarter final, and medaling, Patsy said “I was the underdog. I was the underdog yesterday as well – but age is only a number. I came here, 19 years of age, the youngest one on the team, and I’m smashing them up.”

These championships are the first since 2015 in which Ireland has won 3 world medals at a single tournament. Patsy Joyce is also the first male boxer to medal at world level since his cousin, Rio Olympian Joe Ward, won silver in Hamburg in 2017.

Watch

World Boxing has partnered with Eurovision Sport to broadcast the Championship. Coverage, available HERE and on the RTE Player, HERE

Team Ireland

51kg Daina Moorehouse, of Enniskerry BC, Wicklow. Daina is from Bray, Co. Wicklow.

54kg Jenny Lehane of DCU Boxing Club, Dublin. Jenny is from Ashbourne, Co. Meath

57kg Michaela Walsh of Holy Family Golden Gloves BC Belfast.

60kg Zara Breslin of Tramore BC, Waterford.

65kg Grainne Walsh of St. Mary’s BC, Tallaght, Dublin. Grainne is from Tullamore, Co. Offaly

70kg Lisa O’Rourke of Castlerea BC, Co. Roscommon

75kg Aoife O’Rourke of Castlerea BC, Co. Roscommon. Team Co-Captain

50kg Louis Rooney of Star BC, Belfast

55kg Patsy Joyce of Olympic BC, Mullingar Co. Westmeath

60kg Adam Hession of Monivea BC, Co. Galway. Team Co-Captain

65kg Dean Clancy of Sean McDermott BC, Co. Leitrim. Dean is from Co. Sligo

70kg Matthew McCole of Illies Golden Glove BC Co. Donegal

75kg Gavin Rafferty of Dublin Docklands Boxing Club

80kg Kelyn Cassidy of Saviours Crystal BC, Co. Waterford

85kg Brian Kennedy of St. Brigid’s BC Edenderry Co. Offaly

90kg Jack Marley of Monkstown BC, Dublin

90+kg Martin McDonagh of Galway BC

Support Staff

• Team Manager: Jon Mackey, National Performance Director
• Head Coach: Zauri Antia
• Coaches: Damain Kennedy, Lynne McEnery, Eoin Pluck, James Doyle and JP Delaney
• Doctor: Jim Clover
• Lead Physio: Rob Tuomey
• Performance Analyst: Alan Swanton
• Logistics Support: Sean Crowley, High Performance Manager

Boxing in the 2025 National U17 Championship begins tonight.

Over 130 boxers from throughout the Association have entered this competition, for boxers against 15 and 16.

Please note that the finals of the boys 40kg & 44kg divisions, and the girls 46kg, 48kg and 63kg categories will be boxed on Sunday, September 14th.

Venues

Boxing on September 12th, 13th and 14th will take place in Holy Family BC, Drogheda 

Weigh-ins: Friday 8-9am & 12-1pm and Saturday & Sunday 8-9am

Boxing on Friday will begin a 6pm, and there’s an 11am start for boxing on Saturday and Sunday

The Semi Finals & Finals will be boxed at the National Stadium, Dublin, on September 19th and 20th, respectively.

Weigh-ins: Friday 8-9am & 12-1pm / Saturday 8-9am

Boxing on Friday begins at 6pm, and gets underway on Saturday at 11am.

Advisory

• All coaches must be Qualified and registered via Secretary@iaba.ie by 5pm on Wednesday, September 10th.
• Boxers may not wear international kit – boxers may wear club kit, only. 
• The length of the shorts or the skirt must not be shorter than mid-thigh.
• The withdrawal of any boxer must be notified to the National Registrar Stephen Connolly, phone: 086 1546746 as soon as possible

Programmes

Please note that all programmes may be subject to change