IABA’s Women in Sport Lead, Sophie Doolan, is launching the LEAP, the Leadership, Empowerment & Advancement Programme for women in leadership and pre-leadership roles throughout the Association. 

Nominations have already been invited of Antrim, Connacht, Dublin, Leinster, Ulster, Munster Provincial Units as well as the Central Council Female Committee and among High Performance athletes.

A number of places are available for women IABA members to nominate themselves.

This is an 8-week online programme beginning in the first week of September in partnership with Longford College, where participants will earn a Diploma in Strategic Leadership and Management, covering the following topics:

Week 1: Foundations of Leadership & Strategy – Learn key strategic management concepts and leadership frameworks.

Week 2: Breaking Barriers – Identify and overcome systemic and cultural challenges in leadership.

Week 3: Increasing Visibility – Develop self-promotion strategies and leadership branding techniques.

Week 4: Networking for Success – aster the art of building professional relationships.

Week 5: Finding Role Models & Mentorship – Discover how mentorship and role models accelerate leadership growth.

Week 6: Strategic Decision-Making – Learn how to navigate organizational culture and lead effectively.

Week 7: Influence & Impact – Strengthen your leadership presence and make strategic contributions.

Week 8: Leadership Identity & Career Growth – Develop your personal leadership strategy and prepare for future success.

Notes:

• Weekly classes are 90 minutes to two hours in duration
• Classes are initially scheduled for Wednesday evenings at 6pm, although this may be amended based on Longford College’s schedule.
• This course in adjudicated by means of submission of learner logs of around 200 words after each class.
• There are no exams.

i.            Application Criteria

All applicants must:

• Be over the age of 18
• Be a member of a successfully affiliated IABA club for the current season
• Be registered by their club in the club’s Blocworx portal
• Be in good standing in the IABA
• Be in a leadership or pre-leadership role at club, county board, provincial or national level in an administrative, coaching, officiating or support context.
• Commit to attending all learning dates
• Not be already nominated by any of the above noted entities.

ii.           How will places be awarded?

Places will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis among applicants meeting the criteria noted in i.

iii.          How do I apply?

All Expressions of Interest for this programme must be submitted here https://shout.com/s/TVOvqQCB    Applications by email, phone, text or other method will not be accepted.

iv.          What’s the deadline?

All Expressions of Interest for this programme must be received by 10am on Monday, August 11^th.

v.            What happens after the deadline?

• Everyone who submitted an Expression of Interest to this programme will be notified of their status by 5pm on Friday, August 15th.
• All successful applicants will be invited to an online induction meeting on XX date at XX time. This meeting will take approximately 30 minutes.

vi.          What happens after participants complete the course?

All participants who complete the course will be invited to attend a formal graduation ceremony, taking place in mid to late November.

For any queries on this process, or LEAP, please contact IABA Women in Sport Lead, Sophie Doolan, via sophie@iaba.ie

28 bouts were decided in the opening night of boxing in the 2025 National U15 and U23 Championships, taking place at the National Stadiu,

Boxing resumes at 11am on Saturday morning. The 2025 National U15 Championships is being boxed in the Main Stadium, and the 2025 National U23 Championships is taking place in the Gym.

Results: 2025 National U15 Prelims

1. 40kg   John Sweeney (Olympic C) W/O
2. 40kg   Isaac Ireland (Banbridge) beat Jamie Roberts (Ballybrack), 3-2
3. 40kg   Lorchan McGuinness (Dealgan) beat Zac Foster (Ards), 4-1
4. 40kg   Evan Fox (Arklow) W/O
5. 46kg   Oliver Rowley (Mullingar Elite) 5-0 Rowen Doherty (St Bridgets ABC)
6. 46kg   Brandon O’Brien (Setanta) beat Christopher Nevin (Mullingar Elite), 5-0
7. 46kg   Callum Scanlon (Baldoyle) beat John Paul McDonagh (Wexford CBS), 4-1
8. 46kg   Alfie Harrington (Dunboyne) beat Martin G Maughan (St Matthews), 5-0
9. 48kg   Zac Creighton (Avona) beat Lennon Fulton (Ballymun), 5-0
10. 48kg   Joe Ward (Athlone) beat Ali Abdulnasser (Ballymun), 5-0
11. 50kg   Rogan Cardwell (Glengormley) beat Lee Gabriel (Dublin Docklands), 4-1
12. 50kg   Frankie Mooney (Banbridge)  beat James O’Laighin (Claremorris), RSC1
13. 52kg   James Long (Ballina) beat Joe Carthy (St Michaels Athy), 5-0
14. 52kg   Tommy Brown (Setanta) W/O
15. 52kg   Ceejay Sheelan (Tredagh) beat Noah Quinn (Carndonagh), 4-1
16. 52kg   Preston Creighton (Evolution) beat Bobby Guy (Cherry Orchard), 5-0
17. 52kg   Patrick Gavin (Santry) W/O
18. 52kg   Patrick Hourican (Sean Dorans) beat Jay Long (Elite Cork), 5-0
19. 54kg   Tommy Murray (Sliabh Luachra) beat Kyle Keane (Curadh)          , 5-0
20. 54kg   Conan McLaughlin (Dukes) beat Thomas McDonagh (Mullingar Elite), 5-0

Results: 2025 National U23 Championship prelims

1. 60kg   Lee McEvoy (Avona) beat Cody O’Reilly (Portlaoise), 4-1
2. 60kg   Jamie Graham (Clonard) beat Jordan O’Donnell (St Georges), 5-0
3. 65kg   Johnny Harty (Portlaoise) beat Richard Phiri (Celtic Eagles), 5-0
4. 65kg   Roy Colgan (Avona) beat Malo Davis (Monkstown D), 4-1
5. 65kg   Jake Daly (D-Box) beat Adam Taaffe (Monkstown D), 4-1
6. 65kg   Luke Hall (Rochfordbridge) beat James McDonagh (St Pauls Wat), 3-2
7. 65kg   Fionn Duffy (St Josephs Derry) beat Cian Cramer (Cabra), 4-1
8. 65kg   Danny O’Reilly (St Pauls Wat) beat Jason Nevin (Olympic L), 5-0

Advisory

• Both championships will run simultaneously, the Under 15s will be in the Main Stadium, the Under 23s will be in the Gym.
• Weigh-ins are on Fridays from 8am to 9am and 12pm to 1pm, and on Saturdays from 8am to 9am, only.
• All coaches must be qualified and registered via Secretary@iaba.ie
• The withdrawal of any boxer must be notified, as soon as possible, to National Registrar Stephen Connolly via 0861546746

Programmes: Saturday, August 9th.

Boxing in both competitions begins at 11am; all programmes are subject to change.

Eugene has officiated at competitions including the 2003 World Elite Championships in Thailand, Olympic qualifiers in Europe, America and Trinidad and Tobago, European championships, USA World Golden Gloves Invitational Tournament in Minnesota in 2005, the Commonwealth Games finals in Kuala Lumpur in 2004, as well as over 70 other box cups, round robins and international tournaments.

Outside the ring, Eugene holds the record as the long-serving elected member of the Ulster Boxing Council. He has also served as UBC Registrar, and Chair of the provincial council’s Referee and Judging Committee. Closer to home, Eugene has held every position in the Derry County Board, bar that of Treasurer, and was a member of Central Council in the 1990s.

The President of St Joseph’s Boxing Club was honoured by the I.A.B.A. for Outstanding Services to Boxing in 2017, was presented with a Life Time Achievement Award at the 2024 National Elite Championship Finals, and has just been elected Vice President of Central Council.

Eugene was also honoured by IABA as part of the Seconds Out: Stories of Irish Boxing series, produced by Lowki Culture and supported by Sport Ireland.

As part of this piece, he voice of Irish boxing, stadium announcer Peter O’Donnell of Raphoe BC in Donegal highlighted Eugene’s social contribution to his community through boxing “ I don’t think men like Eugene get enough credit for what they’ve done, especially in the 70s and 80s. These men, these volunteers, have actually saved lives. Young men, when the Troubles was going strong in Northern Ireland, these men kept the boxing clubs going throughout all that era. Kept young boys on the right path – other than that, there would have been a lotta young lives lost.”

With under four weeks to go, and having already completed a 7 week bloc of training post the 2025 National Elite Competition, Team Ireland is kicking World Boxing Championship preparations up a gear.

Today, the High Performance Unit welcomed a composite team of male and female boxers from Hungary and Norway for a four day sparring and test match camp, including three Paris Olympian, Sunniva Hofstad of Norway and Hungary’s Hamorai Luca and Phylp Akilov, alongside Hungarian athletes Szabina Szucs, Istvan Szaka and Vladislava Kuchta.

While 9 members of the World Boxing Championship team will tomorrow depart for Heidleberg, Germany, for a 5 multi-nations sparring and test match camp, including Jenny Lehane, Grainne Walsh, Adam Hession, Dean Clancy, Matthew McCole, Brian Kennedy, Kelyn Cassidy and Jack Marley

And, from August 17th, Team Ireland will take part in a multi-nations training camp at the GB Training Centre in Sheffield as final preparations for the championships.

Contesting this Championships is made possible by IABA clubs’ decision in April to also affiliate to World Boxing, on a dual member basis. World Boxing, which will run boxing at the LA28 Olympic Games, affirmed IABA as a member in May.

National Performance Head Coach, Zauri Antia, says “Our boxers are in a great place – focused, technically and tactically prepared. They know what’s ahead of them and will continue their path building skill and fitness levels over the next 4 weeks, as we level-up preparations including hosting Norway and Hungary, travelling to Germany and taking part in the GB camp in Sheffield.”

World Boxing Championships

Boxing in the World Boxing Championships, taking place at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, begins on September 4th – culminating in finals on September 14th.

More than 500 boxers from over 60 countries are expected to take part in the competition which will be the first Elite-level global championships hosted by World Boxing, the new International Federation for Olympic style boxing.  It will be the biggest Olympic-style boxing event to take place in Great Britain since the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Team Ireland

51kg Daina Moorehouse, of Enniskerry BC, Wicklow.

54kg Jenny Lehane of DCU Boxing Club, Dublin.

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.

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

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

50kg Louis Rooney of Star BC, Belfast

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

6okg Adam Hession of Monivea BC, Co. Galway

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

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
• Logistics Support: Sean Crowley, High Performance Manager

Progammes for the opening weekend of boxing in the 2025 National U15 and U23 Championships are now available.

The draws for the U15 Championship are available HERE and the draw for the U23 Championship are available HERE

Advisory

• Both championships will run simultaneously, the Under 15s will be in the Main Stadium, the Under 23s will be in the Gym.
• All entrants must hold a current up to date Irish passport, with at least 6 months remaining to expiry.
• Weigh-ins are on Fridays from 8am to 9am and 12pm to 1pm, and on Saturdays from 8am to 9am, only.
• All coaches must be qualified and registered via Secretary@iaba.ie
• The withdrawal of any boxer must be notified, as soon as possible, to National Registrar Stephen Connolly via 0861546746

Friday, August 8th.

Preliminaries – Boxing begins at 6pm. All programmes are subject to change

Saturday, August 9th

Quarter Finals – Boxing begins at 11am. All programmes are subject to change