Hession & O’Rourke to captain Ireland at World Boxing Championships.

Team Ireland’s Team Co-Captains for the World Boxing World Championships have been named and are Adam Hession of Monivea BC, Galway, and Aoife O’Rourke of Castlerea BC, Roscommon.

Aoife is a four-time continental champion and a double Olympian; while Adam is a former Olympic Federation of Ireland Paris Scholar. Adam is no stranger to Team Captaincy, having held the role at the 76th Strandja Memorial Tournament in February – coming home with bronze, to boot. Adam and Aoife will represent Ireland at the World Boxing Championship Opening Ceremony.

The Co-Captains were collectively by the 17 boxers gearing-up to contest the championships. They are among 144 boxers from 18 federations putting the finishing touches to their preparations at a training camp at GB Boxing’s Olympic Training Centre in Sheffield. Federations taking part include: USA, Kazakhstan, India, Germany, England, France, Poland, Canada, Korea, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Philippines, Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, Kosovo and Slovakia.

While Team Ireland Patsy Joyce, of Olympic BC Mullingar, says he can’t wait for these World Boxing Championships. Patsy, representing Ireland at 55kg, is fresh from winning a 2025 National U23 Championship title.


World Boxing Championships Schedule

500 boxers from 60 federations will contest these championships, taking place at the M&S Arena, Liverpool.

The draw, which will lay out the path to the podium for each boxer, their opponents, and boxing schedules, will take place on September 3rd.  The draw will be published HERE.

Boxing will begin on September 4th, with preliminaries and quarter finals concluding on September 10th. September 11th is a rest day at the tournament. Two sessions of semi-finals will take place on September 12th – while the first session on September 13th will see the completion of the semi-finals stage.

Finals will be boxed in the evening session on September 13th, and across both sessions on September 14th.

** Session times are liable to change. Session end times can be earlier or later than published.

Tickets and Live-Stream

  • The championships will be live-streamed by World Boxing HERE
  • The championship website is HERE; tickets are available for purchase.

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

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. 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
  • Logistics Support: Sean Crowley, High Performance Manager