Boxers Niamh and Alfie among the medals in Italy

Olympic Boxing Club, Mullingar had four boxers representing Ireland at European Junior Championships in Italy last week.

They came away with two medals, with 54kg competitor Niamh Keogh winning a silver medal and 46kg boxer Alfie Jordan winning a bronze medal.

At 46kg, Alfie Jordan had three fights. First up in the last 16, Alfie beat the German champion on a score of 5-0, with Alfie giving his opponent two standing eight counts in the last round.

Next up for Alfie was the quarter-final, and he came up against a very good Moldovan boxer. However, Alfie shone once again, boxing brilliantly and landing some superb back-hands to win 5-0 on the judge’s scores.

In the semi-finals, Alfie lost a very close decision to an English boxer. The fight was level going in last round. As a result, Alfie brought home a European bronze medal.

At 50kg, Calvin Doyle beat a Moldovan opponent 5-0 in the last 16 bout, with Calvin landing some fast attacks.

In the quarter-final bout, Calvin came up against a very strong aggressive boxer from Romania. Calvin boxed brilliantly, landing some fast attacks and moving impressively. But unfortunately the judges awarded Romania the win on a score of 3-2. Calvin was very unlucky.

At 60kg, Ryan Jenkins, in last 16 bout, came up against a strong Israeli boxer. Ryan started slowly losing the first round, drawing the second and comfortably winning the third round. But this wasn't enough, as Ryan lost on a 3-2 split decision. Another kid who was very unlucky.

At 54kg, Niamh Keogh had three bouts. In the quarter-finals, she came up against a very experienced Lithuanian boxer. Niamh edged the first round 3-2 on the judges’ score card, and lost the second round 3-2, meaning the last round was crucial as the four judges had it as a draw. But Niamh found her range and won the last round comfortably to win the bout 4-1 on the judges’ card.

In the semi-final Niamh met a strong Croatian boxer. Niamh’s opponent lives in Germany, wasn’t very big and attacked a lot, but Niamh didn’t give her a chance, attacking the fight from the start to win all three rounds and all five judges score cards read 30-26, giving her a 5-0 win. A brilliant performance from Niamh.

In final, Niamh came up against a very tall and talented English girl. The first round was very close, and we were thinking Niamh got it on the judges’ score card. They favoured the English girl 3-2, however.

In the second round, Niamh was winning it and feeling comfortable, but her opponent landed two clean punches coming towards the end of the round to win.

In the last round, Niamh gave it her all, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough and she had to settle for a silver medal this time.

At the weekend, Niamh and Alfie were introduced the crowds with their medals at Cusack Park during the county football finals, which was a great moment.

Olympic Boxing Club, Mullingar have now won five European medals in 2022: Patsy Joyce won bronze in the U18 Europeans; Louise Joyce won a silver medal in the Schools Europeans; Christian Doyle won a gold medal in the Schools Europeans; Alfie Jordan won bronze in the European Juniors; Niamh Keogh won silver in the European Juniors.

Olympic BC also have won 24 national titles this season and also picking up the award for best boxing club in Ireland for 2022 season. This is a brilliant achievement for everyone involved.

Next up for Olympic, Mullingar is the Limerick Cadet Box Cup and the Wexford Box Cup, and Patsy Joyce will be representing Ireland in the World U18s in Spain next month.