LAST UPDATE | 28 Jun 2023
FIVE EUROPEAN MEDALS for Ireland’s boxers, and three through to Paris.
Kellie Harrington will defend her Olympic lightweight title next year after securing at least a bronze medal at the European Games in Poland.
Harrington will be joined at the Paris 2024 Games by her fellow Tokyo Olympian Michaela Walsh, who did the same at featherweight, as well as young Sligo talent Dean Clancy who has reached his maiden Olympics after guaranteeing his first major international medal at light-welter.
Dublin heavyweight prodigy Jack Marley has also sealed his place on the podium up at 92kg, earning his own first ever international medal in the adult ranks, albeit Marley must still win his semi-final in order to join Harrington and Clancy on the plane next summer.
Two-time European middleweight champion Aoife O’Rourke is in a similar boat: she sealed Ireland’s fifth and final medal of the day — and her third European medal in four years — with a dominant victory in her 75kg quarter-final this evening, but she remains one win from the big show in Paris.
There was heartbreak, meanwhile, for world and European champion Amy Broadhurst, who narrowly missed out on an Olympic spot and a medal up at welterweight (66kg), while the game Jenny Lehane exited at the same stage down at bantamweight (54kg).
Reigning lightweight queen Harrington bested Sweden’s Agnes Alexiusson on a 4-1 split decision to seal her fifth ever continental medal and reach the 60kg semi-finals, becoming a two-time Olympian in the process.
The Tokyo gold medallist had three times previously beaten Alexiusson, who took bronze in this competition four years ago.
Today’s was a high-quality, nail-biting encounter for the first two rounds. Entering the last, Harrington led on two judges’ scorecards, two had it even, and one had it for the Swede — meaning it was all up for grabs in the final three minutes.
The Dubliner came good in the clutch, though, bossing the final round and sweeping it on the cards.
She was deservedly announced a split-decision victor on scores of 30-27 x2, 29-28 x 2, and 28-29, and will face her Olympic predecessor — Rio 2016 gold medallist Estelle Mossely, who these days is a world-title-contending professional boxer — in the last four on Friday.
It was far plainer sailing for former European U22 champion Dean Clancy of Sligo, who produced a sensational display to take a 5-0, unanimous-decision verdict against Italy’s Gigi Malanga and book his spot on the plane next summer.
Clancy, 21, made the slick Italian look ordinary, peppering him from every angle over three rounds and even blasting the gumshield out of Malanga’s mouth in the last.
To Malanga’s credit, he found some success of his own in that final round, lashing Clancy with left hooks to the body, but the Sligo man styled it out to take the bout on scores of 30-27 x3 and 29-28 x2.
Clancy has banked his first major international medal in the grown-up ranks and will seek to upgrade it when he faces France’s Sofiane Oumiha in a 63.5kg semi-final on Friday.
Dubliner Jack Marley, 20, was facing an opponent 15 years his senior in Croatia’s Marko Calic, who also boasts a 14-1 (8KOs) record as a professional.
It was European U22 champion Marley, though, who took Calic to school, earning a 4-1 split decision which really should have been a 5-0 whitewash but for one incompetent judge.
Mixing it up to body and head with precision, Marley took the first round on four of the five judges’ cards, with one of them believing him so dominant that they awarded him a 10-8 round.
The second was closer, Marley nicking it 3-2 and all but sealing his place in the semi-finals.
The Irishman needed only to avoid disaster in the final round and, rather than get on his bike, he remained the instigator, even forcing a standing count of Calic to win the round across the board.
On final scores of 30-26, 30-27 x2, 29-28 and 28-29, Marley is a European medallist — but not yet an Olympian. He will seek to upgrade that entire situation against Spain’s former World Championship bronze medallist and European silver medallist Enmanuel Reyes on Friday.
Belfast’s Michaela Walsh is a two-time Olympian after securing her fourth European medal for Ireland — or her fifth if you include the EU Championships — and cruising into the featherweight (57kg) semis.
Walsh, who has now won eight major international medals in all, dispatched of Denmark’s Melissa Mortensen at a canter, earning a 5-0 decision on scores of 30-26 x2, 30-27 x2, and 29-28.
The 30-year-old’s semi-final opponent on Friday will be Amina Zidani of France.
#TeamIreland's 57kg Michaela Walsh is now a double Olympian - she qualified for #Paris2024 following her 5-0 #eG2023 victory over Denmark. pic.twitter.com/8pa0gDtITf
— IABA (@IABABOXING) June 28, 2023
In the final Irish fight of the evening, Roscommon hero Aoife O’Rourke, twice previously a European gold medallist, guaranteed her place on the continental podium once more with a convincing win over Sweden’s Love Nelli Holgersson.
O’Rourke was the more accurate, more powerful combatant over all three rounds, earning a 10-8 from one judge in the second as she bruised her way to a UD success (30-27 x3, 30-26 and 29-28).
Next up for the Castlerea woman will be a semi-final versus home-county fighter Elzbieta Wojcik, whom O’Rourke beat to claim her second European gold last year.
The winner of that one will be Olympics-bound.
Earlier, there was agony for 63kg world and European champion Amy Broadhurst, who was edged out on a 3-2 split by Britain’s Rosie Eccles in their 66kg quarter and will have to take the scenic route if she is to continue her Olympic pursuit.
With Harrington occupying the Olympic spot at 60kg, Broadhurst was this week competing in the next available slot a full two weight divisions — or 6kg — above her preferred bracket. In the end, size mattered as fully-fledge welterweight Eccles came from behind to dig out the narrowest of wins against the exhausted Dundalk woman.
Broadhurst took the first round 4-1 but began to tire against the naturally larger woman in the second, dropping it 3-2. The fight — and an Olympic spot — was up for grabs entering the last. Indeed, had Broadhurst won it on even one of the five judges’ scorecards, she would have been Paris-bound.
She did her level best to box and move on tired legs, but it was Eccles who landed the more telling blows to sweep the round and book her own spot at next summer’s Games.
Broadhurst, 26, is a far more destructive force at lightweight and light-welter, and there is significant interest in her ability in the professional game. Only time will tell whether she remains amateur and tries again for Paris at the slightly easier world qualifiers, of which there are two next year.
Her fellow world champion Lisa O’Rourke, whose 70kg division is not an Olympic category but who could theoretically come down to 66kg, may have a thing or two to say about that in the meantime.
Wicklow flyweight (50kg) Daina Moorehouse, too, suffered a gnawing 3-2 split-decision defeat to French counterpart Wassila Lkhadiri, exiting the tournament a stage shy of a medal and Olympic qualification.
Moorehouse actually won the first two rounds 3-2, but a 4-1 reversal in the third gave victory to the Frenchwoman on scores of 30-27, 29-28 x2, 28-29 and 27-30.
It seemed a harsh verdict on the 21-year-old Moorehouse, who probably had a case to win the first round unanimously.
Irish head coach Zaur Antia bemoaned the call as it was announced, angrily wagging his finger in the direction of the judges.
At light-heavyeight (80kg), Waterford’s Kelyn Cassidy came within a whisker of an astonishing upset of Ukraine’s Oleksandr Khyzhniak — a former world champion, two-time European champion, and Tokyo Olympic silver medallist.
Cassidy boxed beautifully throughout the opening two rounds, taking the first 3-2 and the second across the board.
In a commanding position, Cassidy needed to only avoid calamity in the closer but he couldn’t quite manage it. His sensational efforts in the first two rounds visibly took their toll and in the third, he began to unravel.
He was deducted a point when he tripped Khyzhniak with his leg in an exhausting clinch, and then received a standing count as the Ukrainian launched barrages of attacks in order to seal a come-from-behind victory.
Khyzhniak was awarded the final round 5-0, with one 10-8, and the application of a point deduction on Cassidy yielded a majority decision for the Ukrainian: 29-27 x2, 28-27, and 28-28 x2.
In the first fight of Irish interest on Wednesday, Meath woman Jenny Lehane also fell just short of a medal and an Olympic spot, losing a unanimous decision to 2014 world champion and three-time European champion Stanimira Petrova of Bulgaria in their 54kg quarter-final.
It was a cagey contest with little between them in any round, but ultimately the rangier Petrova exuded enough of a sense of control to bank rounds.
Lehane, like Broadhurst, Moorehouse and Cassidy, can still take the backroads to Paris next year.
Elsewhere for Team Ireland today, James Edgar and Luke McCarron both made their Triathlon debut at the European Games, finishing in 41st and 47th respectively.
Clare Cryan bowed in the prelims of the 1M Springboard, finishing in 22nd place on 187.85 points. In badminton, Rachael Darragh narrowly lost her final group stage game to a seeded French opponent who clinched a 2-0 victory (21-18, 24-22).
In fencing, the Ireland Men’s Sabre Team finished in 14th place following defeat to Azerbaijan in their final match.
There was defeat for Joshua Magee and Paul Reynolds in their final Men’s Badminton Doubles group stage game. However, they did enough to progress to the quarter-finals which will take place tomorrow. Meanwhile, Nhat Nguyen lost out 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) to Dutch player Mark Caljouw in his final group stage game. Nguyen will be also be back in action tomorrow in the last 16.
Kate Frost and Moya Ryan were knocked out of the Women’s Badminton Doubles in the group stages after losing out to Germany 2-0 (21-17, 21-8).
