Déise Teen Shamie McDonagh Proud ahead of European Adventure

Teen talent Shamie McDonagh is ready to show Europe what he’s all about.

The Waterford fighter heads into the European Under-22 Championships wanting to share his talents with fight followers.

The 18-year-old caught the eye when winning the Irish Under-22 63kg title last month, scoring three big wins en-route, and must have continued to impress during a training camp as he has been selected to compete in Croatia.

Speaking to Irish-boxing.com about his selections the light welterweight teen revealed he was felt proud, a little bit nervous, but most of all excited.

“I felt very good and proud with myself because I trained very hard to get the chance of being picked,” he explains to Irish-Boxing.com.

“I’m very excited to just get out there and show people what I can do and hopefully I perform my best at each fight. I’m very excited about heading out but also very nervous just have to keep a level head and perform to my best ability.”

The St Paul’s fighter, one of the youngest on a very young team, isn’t making any bold predictions pre-tournament. Ireland won gold at his weight last year through Dean Clancy but McDonagh electing to go for a more sensible ‘one fight at a time’ approach.

“The target is to have a good first fight and hopefully get the win and then hopefully get a medal and then upgrade that medal,” he adds before discussing training leading into the prestigious tournament.

“I found the prep for it very good in the High Performance you’re always learning new things and you’re also training and sparring with the best In the country. I’d like to thank all my coaches in St Paul’s boxing club for also helping me prepare to my best ability.”