Team Ireland has broken all previous records for medals at European U22 level in its 2024 campaign and will return home with 3 gold, 1 silver and four bronze. Ireland’s previous records were 3 medals apiece in 2022, 2021 and 2019.
At yesterday’s Women’s Finals, 2022 World Champion Lisa O’Rourke won European U22 gold by way of a 5-0 victory over IBA-B’s Darya Letsko. 48kg Carleigh Irving will come home with silver after her contest with Turkey’s Nursselen Yalgattekin. 54kg Robin Kelly was awarded her bronze medal.
Men’s finals took place today, and 48kg Louis Rooney was first up, boxing for a top-of-the-podium place against Azerbaijan’s Tural Sariyev and is a champion following a 4-1 split: 28:29; 28:29;28:29;28:29; 29:28. 54kg Patsy Joyce was in action in the 3rd bout, taking on Scotland’s Aaron Cullen, and comes home with gold by virtue of a 4-1 split decision win: 30:27; 28:29; 30:27;30:27;30:27. Clepson dos Santos, Bobbi Flood and Martin McDonagh received their medals .
U22 Team Head Coach, Eoin Pluck, says “This record-breaking result is testament to the individual and collective commitment to training, and readiness to learn and adapt shown by every member of this team. It’s a great honour to contest for your country, and I’d like to congratulate each boxer, their clubs, club coaches and their families on remarkable achievements in this tournament.”
National High Performance Head Coach, Zauri Antia, attended the tournament in a Coach Mentor capacity and says “Results here show the great depth of talent among boxers in Ireland. Every member of the team has performed exceptionally well, and each team member contributed to this high number of medals.”
Seven Team Ireland boxers lost to eventual champion, including bronze medalists Robin Kelly, Clepson dos Santos, Bobbi Flood and silver medalist Carleigh Irving – alongside 57kg Niamh Fay, 57kg Gavin Ryan and 75kg Josh Olaniyan.
The team have been in training at the High Performance Unit on the Sport Ireland campus since August. During their preparation bloc and with the support of Sport Ireland and SportNI sport science practitioners, have received workshops on Nutrition, focusing on loading, recovery and weight management. The team has received two Sport Psychology workshops, learning in Physiology, and took part in a sparring camp with Italy hosted by the Ulster High Performance Unit
327 boxers from 36 federations have contested the tournament -Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, IBA Neutral N, IBA Neutral B, Ireland, Israel, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales.
Team Ireland
48kg Carleigh Irving, Oakleaf Boxing Club
54kg Robyn Kelly, Ballynacargy Boxing Club
57kg Niamh Fay, Phoenix of Ballyboughal Boxing Club
63kg Linda Desmond, Rylane Boxing Club
66kg Kaci Rock, Enniskerry Boxing Club
70kg Lisa O’Rourke, Castlerea Boxing Club
75kg Bethany Dooecy, Castlebar Boxing Club
48kg Louis Rooney, Star Boxing Club
51kg Clepson dos Santos, Holy Trinity ABC
54kg Patsy Joyce, Olympic BC Mullingar
57kg Gavin Ryan, Ratoath Golden Gloves Boxing Club
63.5kg Roy Colgan, Avona Boxing Club
67kg Luke Hall, Olympic Boxing Club Mullingar
71kg Bobbi Flood, Cabra Boxing Club
75kg Josh Olaniyan, Jobstown Boxing Club
80kg James Whelan, Dublin Docklands Boxing Club
86kg Kian Hedderman, St. Francis Boxing Club
92+kg Martin McDonagh, Galway Boxing Club
Support Staff
Team Manager: Sean Crowley
Head Coach: Eoin Puck
Coach: Lynne McEnery
Coach: Damian Kennedy
Coach: Jay Delaney
Coach Mentor: Zauri Antia
Physiotherapist: Ceire Smith
R&J: Mal Scott.