Four more medals for Ireland in Assisi- Major honours for four juniors

The Irish squad will now be be taking home at least four Youth and four Junior bronze medals from the tournament.

Hogan was involved in a see-saw affair with Turkey’s Elit Belismen. The Offally light-fly, taking advantage of Belismen’s low left guard, found the target with some solid rights to edge the first round on two of the judges cards.

But the Turk upped the pace to claim the second frame 2-1 to leave the scoring tied at 19-19 across the board. With the Irish corner beckoning her forward, Hogan won the third 2-1, but Belismen claimed the fourth 2-1 to leave all square at 39-37,38-38,38-38, Hogan earning the 39-37 score.

However, Hogan deservedly got the decision when it went back to the judges. A great performance from the Irish skipper against a worthy opponent.

O’Neill dropped Iryna Yaskova of the Ukraine with a superb right hook in the opening 20 seconds of their lightweight clash, but the ref ruled that it was a slip. O’Neill, who has a fairly lethal looking right, boxed superbly throughout the four rounds this afternoon. Her head and foot movement were top notch and she turned on the style in the second round in particular.

Yaskova, in fairness, never stopped trying to salvage what proved to be a lost cause, and while she won the last frame on two of the judges cards, O’Neill had done more than enough to book her ticket into the last-four on a 39-36,39-37,39-37 verdict.

O’Hara and Broadhurst, both EU champions , took the early route to victory in the evening session, the Ulster and Leinster duo stopping England’s Hayley Ward and Italy’s Annunziata Esposito in the fourth rounds.

Ward and Esposito both took standing counts in rounds one, two and three as the Irish girls romped home to inside the distance wins.

Ciara Sheedy was edged out by Azerbaijan’s Marryeva Jabrailova in the light-welter class. Sheedy’s greater volume of punches throughout the four rounds might have been enough to see her through to the last-four on another day, but the Azeri puncher got the nod – 39-37,40-36,37-39.

“All the girls gave it everything today and they all performed magnificently. The standard here is very high. This is the European Championships and we have eight medals now, said Irish coach Liam Brereton.

“I don’t know what anyone else thinks, but I thought that Ciara did enough to win. She worked very hard and she gave it her all, as did our entire team today. You can’t ask for any more than that. “

The Irish Juniors will be in action tomorrow looking to upgrade their bronze medals to at least silver. Click here for Thursday’s program.

European Women’ s Youth and Junior Championships Assisi, Italy

July 20th

Junior

Q/Final

48kg Kelsey Leonard (Ireland) lost to Melissa Hall (England) 0-3

Last 16

50kg Caitlin Sweeney (Ireland) lost to Ebonie Jones (England) 0-3

July 22nd

Q/Finals

46kg Shauna Blaney (Ireland) beat Beatrix Kalmav (Hungary) 3-0

52kg Natasha Logan (Ireland) lost to Anna Krsnoperava (Russia) 1-2

54kg Shaneen Flynn (Ireland) beat Merve Turkmen (Turkey) 3-0

57kg Orla Garvey (Ireland) lost to  Vera Kopeikina (Russia) 0-3

60kg Shannon Reilly (Ireland) beat Filip Madalina (Romania) TKO3

63kg Natasha O’Reilly (Ireland) lost to Mellissa Freitag (Germany) 1-2

70kg Aoife Burke (Ireland) beat Gitta Cseri (Hungary) TKO3

Youth

July 21st

Last 16

51kg Kristina O’Hara (Ireland) beat Istik Neriman (Turkey) 2-1

54kg Siabh Greene (Ireland) lost to Malys Gangloff (France) 0-3

75kg Niamh Folan (Ireland) lost to Elisaveta Saiushkina (Ukraine) 1-2

July 23rd

Q/Finals

48kg Lauren Hogan (Ireland) beat Elit Belismen (Turkey) 2-1

51kg Kristina O’Hara (Ireland) beat Hayley Ward (England) TKO4

57kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) beat Annunziata Esposito (Italy) TKO4

60kg Cheyanne O’Neill (Ireland) beat Iryna Yaskova (Ukraine) 3-0

64kg Ciara Sheedy (Ireland) lost to Marryeva Jabrailova (Azerbaijan) 1-2

July 26th

S/Finals

48kg Lauren Hogan (Ireland) v Wiktoria Sadej (Poland)

51kg Kristina O’Hara (Ireland) v Hanna Ohota (Ukraine)

57kg Amy Broadhurst (Ireland) v Fina Westerlind (Sweden)

60kg Cheyanne O’Neill (Ireland) v Justyna Pietas (Poland)

Irish squad

Youths

48kg Lauren Hogan  cpt (St Brigid’s Edenderry) (Bronze, at least)

51kg Kristina O’Hara (Emerald) (Bronze, at least)

54kg Siabh Greene (Ballinacarrow)

57kg Amy Boardhurst (Dealgan) (Bronze, at least)

60kg Cheyanne O’Neill (Athlone) (Bronze, at least)

64kg Ciara Sheedy (Aglish)

75kg Niamh Folan (Connemara)

Juniors

46kg Shauna Blaney (Navan) (Bronze, at least)

48kg Kelsey Leonard (Curragh)

50kg Caitlin Sweeney (St Brigid’s Kildare)

52kg Natasha Logan (Ryston)

54kg Shaneen Flynn (Crumlin) (Bronze, at least)

57kg Orla Garvey (Dealgan)

60kg Shannon Reilly (Bray) (Bronze, at least)

63kg Natasha O’Reilly St Brigid’s (Kildare)

70kg Aoife Burke (St Mary’s) (Bronze, at least)

Team Manager Maura Campbell

Coaches: John McCormack, Noreen Quinn, Antoinette Fay, Liam Brereton