Kellie Harrington, Michaela Walsh and Dean Clancy have stamped their tickets for the Olympics, while fellow medallists Jack Marley and Aoife O’Rourke are each one win from the plane.
Kellie Harrington will defend her Olympic lightweight title next year after securing at least a bronze medal at the European Games in Poland.
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 , while the game Jenny Lehane exited at the same stage down at bantamweight . 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.
Dubliner Jack Marley, 20, was facing an opponent 15 years his senior in Croatia’s Marko Calic, who also boasts a 14-1 record as a professional. 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 semis.
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.
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 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.
Irish head coach Zaur Antia bemoaned the call as it was announced, angrily wagging his finger in the direction of the judges.
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