{"id":627144,"date":"2026-09-17T04:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T04:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627144\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T04:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T04:12:14","slug":"european-elite-championships-boxing-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/627144\/","title":{"rendered":"European Elite Championships \u2013 Boxing Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Elite Championships draw is in! 9 Team Ireland boxers begin their tournaments two win away from a medal. Reigning World Champion Aoife O\u2019Rourke and 2022 World Youth champ Cliona D\u2019Arcy are one win away, starting at Quarter Finals stage.<\/p>\n

2024 European champion, Mayo\u2019s Shannon Sweeney, gets her championships underway at Last 16 stage on Saturday against Italy\u2019s Chiara Mosetti. Poland\u2019s Angelika Krysztoforska awaits the winner at 48kg medal stages in Monday\u2019s Quarter Final.<\/p>\n

Paris Olympian, Daina Moorehouse, renews rivalry with Bulgaria\u2019s Zlatislava Chukanova in the Last 16 of the 51kg category in Saturday\u2019s Afternoon Session. The pair last met at the 2nd Olympic Qualifier in Bangkok in the battle for a quota place \u2013 Daina was the victor there. Awaiting the winner in the quarter finals is World and European Games bronze medalist, Spain\u2019s Laura Fuentes Fernandez. Daina last contested against the Spanish boxer at the 2025 World Boxing Championships, and lost on a dreaded 3-2 split.<\/p>\n

Jenny Lehane has a bye, and is face to face with fellow Paris Olympian Wassila Lkhadiri at 54kg Last 16 in Sunday\u2019s Afternoon Session. The pair didn\u2019t meet in Paris, as Lkhadiri contested at 50kg and met Daina at Last 16 stage. The winner will take on either Finland or Poland at the medal stages on September 23rd.<\/p>\n

Double Olympian, and 2026 Commonwealth Games silver medalist Michaela Walsh also has a bye and opens her account at Last 16 stage in Monday\u2019s Evening Session against Montengro\u2019s Bojana Gojkovic. Poland, Slovakia or Bulgaria will take on the winner on September 23rd for a 57kg medal.<\/p>\n

Team Ireland\u2019s Kellie McLoughlin also benefits from a bye to the Last 16 of in the Women\u2019s lightweight category. She\u2019ll take on seasoned French campaigner, Sth\u00e9lyne Grosy, who has recently moved up to 60kg. She\u2019s a multiple European U22\/U23 medalist. The victor in that bout will contest for a medal against either Poland\u2019s Olga Pavlina Papdatou or GB\u2019s Amy Broadhurst.<\/p>\n

Evelyn Igharo is two wins away from a medal in the 70kg category \u2013 she\u2019s first in action against Belarussian, Aryna Danilchyk in Sunday\u2019s Afternoon Session. The winner of that contest will box for a medal against England, Romania or Denmark.<\/p>\n

Reigning World Champion Aoife O\u2019Rourke must wait until Tuesday to begin her tournament. She\u2019s starting at 75kg quarter final stage, against the winner of the Last 16 contest between Poland and France.<\/p>\n

Her sister, 2022 World champ and 2025 World silver medalist, Lisa O\u2019Rourke, is boxing for the first time at 80kg. She\u2019s in Last 16 action against Vasiliki Stavridou of Greece in Saturday\u2019s Evening Session. Stavridou is a European and European U23 medalist. England\u2019s Emily Asquith will contest against the winner of that bout for a medal.<\/p>\n

80+kg Cliona D\u2019Arcy faces Poland\u2019s El\u017cbieta W\u00f3jcik for a medal, having a bye to the quarter finals. That\u2019s on Sunday\u2019s Evening Session. W\u00f3jcik is a two time European Games bronze medalist, a double European Championship silver medalist. The winner of that contest will meet either Turkey or Ukraine in the semi finals.<\/p>\n

Paris Olympian, and 2026 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, Jude Gallagher, boxes a Last 32 contest on Friday against Slovakia\u2019s Maksym Bocarov. The winner there will take on France\u2019s Lounes Hamraoi in the Last 16.<\/p>\n

Dean Clancy, a 65kg Paris Olympian, is also first in action on Friday\u2019s Evening Session, taking on Germany\u2019s Mohamed Siala in a Last 32 bout. The victor will meet France\u2019s Hugo Grau at Last 16 stage. Clancy and Grau last met, competitively, in the Ireland V France international in the National Stadium in February, and sparred during Boxing Ireland\u2019s Commonwealth Games Camp in Belfast in July.<\/p>\n

Gavin Rafferty benefits from a bye to the 75kg Last 16, and first boxes against Mateusz Urban of Poland in Monday\u2019s Evening Session. Urban won bronze in World Boxing Cup China. The winner will move on to the quarter finals to contests against Bulgaria, Belgium or Slovakia.<\/p>\n

And heavyweight Paris Olympian, Jack Marley, also has a bye to the Last 16 and will take on either Aryan Panah Saed or Croatia\u2019s Petar Leskur in Sunday\u2019s Afternoon Session.<\/p>\n

400 boxers will compete 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.<\/p>\n

The team has been in camp since July, and as the final part of their preparations, Boxing Ireland hosted a multi-nations sparring camp at the High Performance Unit at the Institute of Sport, from September 2nd to 9th. Participating nations will included Hungary and Finland, with boxers from Nigeria and USA. The camp formed an important final phase of the preparation programme, giving Team Ireland the opportunity to work against high-quality international opposition before travelling to Bulgaria.<\/p>\n

The complete Championship draw is available here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

How to Watch<\/p>\n

Eurovision Sport will broadcast the complete championships here: https:\/\/eurovisionsport.com\/en\/home<\/a><\/p>\n

The RTE Player will broadcast selected bouts, here: https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/player\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Day One | Preliminaries<\/p>\n

One Team Ireland boxer is in action on the opening day of the Championships \u2013 reigning Commonwealth Games champ, Jon McConnell, takes on Turkey\u2019s Necat Ekinci. Ekinci is a Paris Olympian, and a former World Youth Champion.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s Bout 7 of Ring B\u2019s Evening Session, at around 5:45pm Irish time.<\/p>\n

Schedules Afternoon Session, Ring A<\/a> | Afternoon Session, Ring B<\/a> | Evening Session Ring A<\/a> | Evening Session Ring B<\/a><\/p>\n

Team Ireland<\/p>\n

48kg Shannon Sweeney, St. Anne\u2019s BC, Mayo<\/p>\n

51kg Daina Moorehouse, Enniskerry BC, Wicklow<\/p>\n

54kg Jennifer Lehane, DCU BC, Dublin<\/p>\n

57kg Michaela Walsh, Holy Family BC, Belfast<\/p>\n

60kg Kellie McLoughlin, St. Catherine\u2019s BC, Dublin<\/p>\n

60kg Jude Gallagher, Two Castles Olympic, Tyrone<\/p>\n

65kg Dean Clancy, Sean McDermott BC, Leitrim<\/p>\n

70kg Evelyn Igharo, Clann Naofa BC, Louth<\/p>\n

70kg Jon McConnell, Holy Trinity BC, Belfast<\/p>\n

75kg Aoife O\u2019Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon<\/p>\n

75kg Gavin Rafferty, Dublin Docklands BC<\/p>\n

80kg Lisa O\u2019Rourke, Castlerea BC, Roscommon<\/p>\n

80+kg Cliona D\u2019Arcy, Tobair Pheadair BC, Galway<\/p>\n

90kg Jack Marley, Monkstown BC, Dublin<\/p>\n

Support Staff<\/p>\n

Team Manager| Jon Mackey<\/p>\n

Head Coach | Damian Kennedy<\/p>\n

Coach | James Doyle<\/p>\n

Coach | Jay Delaney<\/p>\n

Coach | Liam Cunningham<\/p>\n

Coach | Lynne McEnery<\/p>\n

Physiotherapist| Rob Tuomey<\/p>\n

Doctor | Dr. Jim Clover<\/p>\n

Psychologist | Dr. Paul Aherne<\/p>\n

Analyst | Alan Swanton<\/p>\n

HOPS | Paul Carragher<\/p>\n

About the European Elite Championships<\/p>\n

This is the first European Boxing Elite Championships under the banner of European Boxing and within the World Boxing family<\/p>\n

This is a World Boxing ranking event, with points award from 1st to 8th place:\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

40nnational federations are eligible to compete in the tournament.<\/p>\n

Draw: approx. 4:30pm, September 16th.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Afternoon Sessions will begin at 12pm, Irish time \u2013 Evening Sessions will get underway at 4pm.<\/p>\n

Competition venue: Asics Arena, Sofia, Bulgaria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Elite Championships draw is in! 9 Team Ireland boxers begin their tournaments two win away from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-627144","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\/627144","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=627144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}