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NONE of Ireland European Championship hero’s are not guaranteed their place on the team such is the dept of talent in Ireland, says Billy Walsh.

John Joe Nevin, Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, Jason Quigley and co helped Ireland finish second only to powerhouse Russia in the overall rankings table. But despite the success not even the medal winners can be sure of a place on Team Ireland for RIO 2014 and indeed Octobers World Championships.

“There is nobody guaranteed their place on the team, and that’s what is keeping them performing,” said Head Coach Walsh. “They know if they don’t perform somebody else will do the job for them. In the next couple of years you will see some more kids coming our from our youth and junior programme who will challenge these guys for their places.”

Walsh was delighted with the teams display in Minsk and praised the two gold and two silver medal haul, but feels but for Joe Ward’s injury we could have had more medals to celebrate.

“If we had a little more luck, with Joe getting injured, we could have had another one in the final and possibly a gold medallist as well.”

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Ireland’s ten-man squad finished in second spot in the rankings table behind Russia at the 2013 European Championships in Minsk, Belarus.

Ireland’s four medal winners

Euro2013Ranking-by-Team

Ireland picked up an average of 2.4 points per boxer.

Click here for complete results

Russia, Ireland, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Belarus, in that order, occupy the top five positions.

John Joe Nevin (Gold), Jason Quigley (Gold), Paddy Barnes (Silver) and Michael Conlan (Silver) finished in podium positions in Minsk.

Tommy McCarthy reached the last-eight.

Ireland also finished in second spot in the rankings tables behind Russia at the 2010 and 2011 European Championships in Moscow and Ankara.

Russia’s Nikita Ivanov claimed light-heavyweight gold on Saturday. Ivanov was beaten by Joe Ward in the 2011 European final.

Ward had to withdraw from the 2013 Championships after suffering a leg injury in the last round of his preliminary round bout with Poland’s Mateusz Tryc.

Tryc lost out to Holland’s Peter Mullenberg, who was beaten by Ivanov in the final, in the quarter-finals.

49Kg: David Ayrapetayan (Russia) beat Patrick Barnes (Ireland) W/O

52Kg: Andrew Selby (Wales) beat Michael Conlan (Ireland) 2-1

56Kg: John Joe Nevin (Ireland) beat Mykola Butsenko (Ukraine) 3-0

60Kg: Pavlo Ishchenko (Ukraine) beat Vagzen Safaryants (Belarus) 2-0

64Kg: Armen Zakaryan (Russia) beat Dmitri Galagot (Moldova) 3-0

69Kg: Alexander Besputin (Russia) beat Arajik Martujan (Germany) 3-0

75Kg: Jason Quigley (Ireland) beat Bogdan Juratoni (Romania) 2-1

81Kg: Nikita Ivanov (RUS) beat  Peter Mullenberg (NED) 3-0

91Kg: Aleksei Egorov (Russia) Teymur Mammadov (AZE) TKO2

+91 Kg: Medzhidov Magomedrasul (Azerbaijan) beat Sergey Kuzmin (Russia) 3-0

Boxer of the 2013 European Championships: John Joe Nevin (Ireland)

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PADDY Barnes was gutted he couldn’t fight for a second European gold on Saturday, but accepts the decision to withdraw him from the light flyweight final was the right one.

The two time Olympic medallist could have become two time European gold medal winner, but had to concede to Russia’s David Ayrapetyan in Minsk, Belarus because of a fractured nose.

Barnes was willing to fight through the pain in a bid to win the tournament, but the Irish coaches thought it too risky for him to trade leather on a day which Jason Quigley and John Joe Nevin win gold.

The Holy Family fighter was ‘gutted’ but accepted the coaches made the right call considering the World Championships are just around the corner.

“I am devastated I couldn’t fight. I couldn’t enter the last European Championships in 2011 because of injury so I am gutted I couldn’t defend my title this time.

“I had to get an X-ray after the last fight and it (nose) was sore, very sore.

“I think it was broken in my first fight and it kept getting worse. I’m stupid, I would have fought on, but I think the right decision was made in the end

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The Our Lady of Lourdes (OLOL) BC in Limerick celebrated three wins at the National Junior Cadet Championships in Dublin today.

Edward Donovan, Timmy Lee Casey and Paddy Casey helped the Shannonsiders recorded a hat-trick at the National Stadium.

Benaldo Marime beat Shane O’Neill on a split decision in a cracking U/18 final today and Leah Roche earned a split decision over Courtney Doheny in an equally exciting Female Senior Cadet final.

The 2013 National Junior Cadet semi-finals and finals will be held next Friday and Saturday.

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Team Ireland touched down at Dublin Airport to a heroes reception tonight from the 2013 European Championships in Minsk, Belarus.

The ten-man squad, who have been away from home for nearly a month in training camp and competition, took home two gold and two silver medals from the Belarusian capital.

John Joe Nevin and Jason Quigley, who can’t seem to stop winning gold in European competition, Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan, finished in podium positions.

Nevin also scooped the Boxer of the Championships award 24 hours after he celebrated his 24th birthday,  Barnes, like Nevin and Quigley, went through the tournament undefeated as he was forced to withdraw from the light-fly final because of a nose injury.

Tommy Murphy, President of the IABA, hailed the performances of Team Ireland in Minsk.

He said: “The Irish team have once again done Ireland proud against the very best. It isn’t even a year since we were welcoming home our team from the London Olympics.

“This time we’ve taken home another four medals from another top tournament and tremendous credit must go to our boxers, coaching staff and everyone involved with the squad and the clubs and coaches up and down the country that put so much time and effort into our sport.

“The Irish Amateur Boxing Association have put the structures in place that yielded the success we’ve seen in Belarus this week. Our teams are now the best prepared in the World when they go into competition.

“We will be sending our women’s team to the European Union Championships in Hungary later this month and I would be confident that they will do well at that tournament.

“Once again, congratulations to everyone involved for another fantastic tournament for our sport.”

“All of the team gave it all their all right through and that’s all you can ask for. I’m delighted to have won gold and the Best Boxer award,” said John Joe Nevin at Dublin Airport tonight.

Joe Hennigan, Irish Team Manager in Minsk, added:  “The Irish team performed magnificently in Minsk. The European Championships is always and very competitive tournament and to take home four medals is a tremendous achievement by any standard.”

Ireland finished in second spot in the rankings tables behind Russia at the tournament.

Irish boxing has now claimed 52 medals, 15 of which were gold,  from the men’s and women’s European Championships since 1939.

One of the quotes of the Championships from Jason Quigley.

“Paddy (Barnes) and the boys can’t slag me any more now for  (“only”) having underage European gold.”

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Ireland’s European Championships squad are due home through Dublin Airport tomorrow evening

The Irish Amateur Boxing Association will hold a press conference at Dublin Airport tomorrow evening immediately after welcoming home Ireland’s European Championships heroes.

The ten-man Irish squad are due to arrive home via Dublin Airport at 7.40pm tomorrow (June 9th).

All media are invited to attend Sunday’s press conference.

John Joe Nevin (Gold), Jason Quigley (Gold), Paddy Barnes (Silver) and Michael Conlan (Silver) finished in podium positions at the 40th European Championships in Minsk, Belarus today.

Nevin also scooped the Boxer of the Championships award in the Belarusian capital.

Click here for results and report.

Flight details.

Dublin Airport (Terminal 1) at 7.40pm on Sunday evening, June 9th. Flight No. AF1478K from Charles D. Gaul Paris

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JASON Quigley added European senior gold to the Under 19 and Under 23 gold medals already decorating his mantle piece with another brilliant Minsk display this afternoon.

The Donegal fighter was involved in an edge-of-the-seat battle with No. 2 seed Bogdan Juratoni in the middleweight final, qith Quigley going right down to the wire with the rugged Romanian before being handed a split decision.

Both boxers looked exhausted in the final minute as the contest ebbed and flowed either way.

Ultimately, Quigley’s cleaner punches – and the fact that he won the first round – and heart earned this victory for the Finn Valley BC clubman, who is on a 26 fight unbeaten run.

The Irish Elite champion now has one of the most unique hat-tricks in European boxing as he won European Youth gold in 2009, European U/23 gold in 2012 and European Senior gold in 2013.

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MICHAEL Conlan lost out on a split decision (29-28,30-27,28-29) to Wales’ Andrew Selby. One judge gave it to Conlan, but the other two gave the 2011 European champion the nod.

A classic flyweight final, with both boxers switching from orthodox to southpaw throughout, Selby punches were that little bit sharper on the day.

Selby edged the first round on a split decision also, and, ultimately, that set the tone for the rest of the three-rounder with Conlan playing catch up and Selby replying on the counter.

Paddy Barnes was withdrawn from today’s light-flyweight final with Russia’s David Ayrapetyan after picking up a nose injury.

Ayrapetyan, who was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, got into the ring to go through the formalities of accepting a walkover.

Jason Quigley will be in action later this afternoon.

European Championships Finals June 8th

49Kg: David Ayrapetayan (Russia) beat Patrick Barnes (Ireland) W/O (Silver for Barnes)

52Kg: Andrew Selby (Wales) beat Michael Conlan (Ireland) 2-1 (28-29,30-27,29-28) (Silver for Conlan)

56Kg: John Joe Nevin (Ireland) beat Mykola Butsenko (Ukraine) 3-0 (30-27,29-28,29-28) (Gold for Nevin)

75Kg: Jason Quigley (Ireland) v Bogdan Juratoni (Romania)

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John Joe Nevin was crowned European Championships in Minsk, Belarus today.

The Cavan BC bantamweight, the No. 1 seed in the Belarusian capital, outclassed Ukrainian southpaw Mykola Butsenko to earn a unanimous decision (30-27,29-28,29-28) at the Palace of Sports.

Hands down by his sides, the type of bantamweight that looks elusive even when he’s standing still, Nevin, who turned 24 on Friday, showcased his full arsenal of counter-punching skills to take the first two frames.

Butsenko had his moments in the third, but Nevin, who threw in a “Mullingar shuffle” near the end, kept picking up points on the counter all the way down to the final bell.

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