The O’Rourke sisters are through to the European Elite Championship finals, while Michaela Walsh is guaranteed at lease a bronze following today’s action in Sofia.
Aoife O’Rourke will box for her fourth European Championship title on Friday. She set a blistering pace in her semi final against 2025 World champion, Russia’s Saldant Medenova and claimed the victory on a 4-1 decision. Judges scored the bout 30:27; 30:27; 30:27; 30:27; 27:30 Aoife will contest her final against Turkey’s Busra Isildar, a multiple World and European medalist. Aoife has now has five confederation level medals, including European Games gold and 3 European Elite titles.
Speaking to Boxing Ireland’s Grainne Walsh, she said ““Very excited, I’m delighted honestly. If you told me this at the start of the year that I’d be heading into a European final, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m just going to go and enjoy it.”
Lisa O’Rourke will box for European Elite gold. She was utterly dominant in her semi final against Ukraine’s Iryna Lutsak and claimed the 5-0 win on a scoreline of 5-0, with a clean sweep of the cards: 30:27; 30:27; 30:27; 30:27; 30:27. Lisa will take on 2023 World champion, Russia’s Anastasiia Demurchian in Thursday’s Evening Session.
Speaking to Grainne at ringside, Lisa said “Yeah, I’m delighted. Aoife was in before me and when I heard the red corner got the win there, I was delighted. t did give me that extra burst. I didn’t want her to be in there lonely, so I made sure I gave it my best shot. Thankfully, I got over the line and I’ll be in the final too.”
Michaela Walsh has secured at least a bronze medal in Sofia, and caused an up-set for the home crowd. The double Olympian took on triple Olympian, Stanimira Petrova, in a 57kg quarter final. This was a cagey contest, with boxers level on four score cards in to the last. Michaela dominated the final round and came away with the 5-0 decision. Judges scored the bout 28:29; 28:29; 28:29; 28:29; 27:30. She’s back in action, and boxing her semi final, in Thursday’s evening session, where she takes on World Boxing Cup Brazil silver medalist, Kukhta Vlagyszlava of Hungary.
Speaking to Grainne after her bout, Michaela said “I knew this would be a tough fight, but coming into this tournament I really started to believe in myself…I’ve been around the world and have done it so many teams. I can be my own harshest critic but I know I can give performances like that. I said to myself I’m not leaving Bulgaria without a medal and I’m so happy to get a performance like that and come out with a unanimous decision.”
Michaela and Lisa’s bouts will be broadcast live on RTE 2 on Thursday from 4:13pm.
Reigning Commonwealth Games champion, Jon McConnell will come home with 70kg bronze. He contested a tight, testy bout against Nabi Isgandarov of Azerbaijan, a World Boxing Cup Brazil bronze medalist. The 4-1 decision went to his opponent, scored: 29:28; 28:29; 29:28; 29:28; 29:28. Jon has had a superb Championships, with wins over Italy’s Gabriele Guidi Rontani, Poland’s Damian Durkacz and Turkey’s Necat Ekinci.
Jude Gallagher exits the championships on the narrowest of margins, a dreaded 3-2 split. The Paris Olympian contest his lightweight quarter final against Spain’s Ewart Andres Marin Hernandez. The 22 year old is a former World Youth silver medalist, and was a silver medalist at August’s Mediterranean Games. Judges scored the bout: 29”28; 29:28; 28:29; 28:29; 30:27. Jude, a 2026 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, has had an excellent championships, with keynote wins over Maksym Bocarov of Slovakia and Lounes Hamraoui of France.
406 boxers are competing in this World Boxing ranking event, drawn from 40 federations: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, World Boxing Refugee Team, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine.
The complete Championship draw is available here.
All images: Magrit Kincses. The complete album is available here
How to Watch
For those to whom RTE 2 is not accessible, Eurovision Sport will broadcast the complete championships here: https://eurovisionsport.com/en/home
Day Seven
The competition reduces to one ring from Thursday, and Michaela Walsh is first in action.
She’s boxing her 57kg semi final in Bout 2, at 4:15pm, Irish time. Lisa is in action in Bout 4 in the same session, at 4:45pm.
Team Ireland
48kg Shannon Sweeney, St. Anne’s BC, Mayo
51kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC, Wicklow
54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU BC, Dublin
57kg Michaela Walsh, Holy Family BC, Belfast
60kg Kellie McLoughlin, St. Catherine’s BC, Dublin
60kg Jude Gallagher, Two Castles Olympic, Tyrone
65kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC, Leitrim
70kg Evelyn Igharo, Clann Naofa BC, Louth
70kg Jon McConnell, Holy Trinity BC, Belfast
75kg Aoife O’Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon
75kg Gavin Rafferty, Dublin Docklands BC
80kg Lisa O’Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon
80+kg Cliona D’Arcy, Tobair Pheadair BC, Galway
90kg Jack Marley, Monkstown BC, Dublin
Support Staff
Team Manager| Jon Mackey
Head Coach | Damian Kennedy
Coach | James Doyle
Coach | Jay Delaney
Coach | Liam Cunningham
Coach | Lynne McEnery
Physiotherapist| Rob Tuomey
Doctor | Dr. Jim Clover
Psychologist | Dr. Paul Aherne
Analyst | Alan Swanton
HOPS | Paul Carragher
About the European Elite Championships
- This is the first European Boxing Elite Championships under the banner of European Boxing and within the World Boxing family
- This is a World Boxing ranking event, with points award from 1st to 8th place: 1st Place -800 points, 2nd Place -500 points; 3rd Place -300 points; 4th Place -300 points and 150 points for those finishing 5th-8th place.
- 40 national federations are eligible to compete in the tournament.
- Competition dates: 17th-25th September. There is no rest day at this tournament. Quarter finals take place on September 22nd and 23rd. , semi finals on September 24th. Finals and medal ceremonies will take place on during the second session on September 24th, and on September 25th.
- Afternoon Sessions will begin at 12pm, Irish time – Evening Sessions will get underway at 4pm.
- Competition venue: Asics Arena, Sofia, Bulgaria