{"id":626914,"date":"2026-09-16T23:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/626914\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T23:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T23:24:11","slug":"jon-mcconnell-gets-ireland-underway-at-the-euros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/626914\/","title":{"rendered":"Jon McConnell Gets Ireland Underway at the Euros"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Only one Team Ireland boxer is in action on the opening day of the European Championships. <\/p>\n<p>Reigning Commonwealth Games champion, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irish-boxing.com\/?s=Jon+McConnell\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jon McConnell<\/a> is the first to trade leather in an Ireland singlet in Serbia. <\/p>\n<p>The Holy Trinity man has been handed a relatively tough start as he faces Turkey\u2019s Necat Ekinci. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"738\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IRL-70kg-Jon-McConnell-CR-David-Fitzgerald-Sportsfile-738x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-163516\"  \/>11 February 2026; Jon McConnell during an IABA World Boxing Championships shoot at the High Performance Unit on the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald\/Sportsfile *** NO REPRODUCTION FEE ***<\/p>\n<p>Ekinci is a Paris Olympian and a former World Youth Champion. He comes with a reputation as a talented operator, but the Belfast man is a fighter of note himself, and a confident one at that.  <\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s Bout 7 of Ring B\u2019s Evening Session, at around 5:45pm Irish time. The fight will prove a historic one, as it\u2019s Ireland\u2019s first ever fight at World Boxing Elite European Championships, previously Ireland contested the IABA\u2019s European Championships.<\/p>\n<p>Schedules\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/boxingireland.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/Boxing2026-European-Elite-Boxing-Championships-Session1A-Schedule.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Afternoon Session, Ring A<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/boxingireland.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/Boxing2026-European-Elite-Boxing-Championships-Session1B-Schedule.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Afternoon Session, Ring B<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/boxingireland.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/Boxing2026-European-Elite-Boxing-Championships-Session2A-Schedule.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Evening Session Ring A<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/boxingireland.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/Boxing2026-European-Elite-Boxing-Championships-Session2B-Schedule.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Evening Session Ring B<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Team Ireland<\/p>\n<p>48kg Shannon Sweeney, St. Anne\u2019s BC, Mayo<\/p>\n<p>51kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC, Wicklow<\/p>\n<p>54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU BC, Dublin<\/p>\n<p>57kg Michaela Walsh, Holy Family BC, Belfast<\/p>\n<p>60kg Kellie McLoughlin, St. Catherine\u2019s BC, Dublin<\/p>\n<p>60kg Jude Gallagher, Two Castles Olympic, Tyrone<\/p>\n<p>65kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC, Leitrim<\/p>\n<p>70kg Evelyn Igharo, Clann Naofa BC, Louth<\/p>\n<p>70kg Jon McConnell, Holy Trinity BC, Belfast<\/p>\n<p>75kg Aoife O\u2019Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon<\/p>\n<p>75kg Gavin Rafferty, Dublin Docklands BC<\/p>\n<p>80kg Lisa O\u2019Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon<\/p>\n<p>80+kg Cliona D\u2019Arcy, Tobair Pheadair BC, Galway<\/p>\n<p>90kg Jack Marley, Monkstown BC, Dublin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Only one Team Ireland boxer is in action on the opening day of the European Championships. Reigning Commonwealth&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":626915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-626914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626914"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626914\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}