AmateurHeadline News

Team Ireland finish up Sheffield training camp

Team Ireland will had their final test matches this morning at the Institute of Sport in Sheffield, winding up what head coach Billy Walsh describes as an excellent training camp.

The team are training with the host nation, Estonia, Italy, Morocco and Norway in Sheffield.

The squad returns to training at the National Stadium next week in the countdown to the 41st edition of the European Elite Men’s Championships which begin in Samokov, Bulgaria – not Sofia as stated in some official forms – on August 5. Samokov is 55 kilometres outside Sofia.

Six members of the squad in Sheffield, Dean Gardiner, Darren O’Neill, Adam Nolan, Dean Walsh, Michael Conlan and Myles Casey have been called up to the Irish team for the European Elites.

Joe Ward, who was in action in APB last weekend, is also included on the Irish panel for Samokov.

The 2015 European Elite Championships is by proxy an Olympic qualifier, as it’s a qualifier for October’s AIBA World Elite MEN’S Championships in Qatar which is a qualifier for Rio 2016.

The top six boxers (the semi-finalists and quarter-finalist which lose to the eventual finalists) in each weight class in Bulgaria qualify for Qatar.

Three members of the Irish squad for Samokov, Ward, Conlan and O’Neill have already claimed one gold and two silver medals at this level in the last five years.

Team Ireland are due to return home from Sheffield tonight.

Irish squad (Sheffield traing camp)

51kg Ceire Smith (Cavan)
48kg Brendan Irvine (St Pauls)
52kg Myles Casey (St Francis)
56kg Michael Conlan (St John Bosco)
56kg Kurt Walker (Canal)
60kg Sean McComb (Holy Trinity)
64kg Dean Walsh (St Joesphs/St Ibars)
69kg Adam Nolan (Bray)
75kg Michael O’Reilly (Portlaoise)
91kg Darren O’Neill (Paulstown)
91+kg Dean Gardiner (Clonmel)

Coaches: Billy Walsh, Zuar Antia, Eddie Bolger
Strength & Conditioning: John Cleary
Physiotherapist: Ursula Brooks
Sports Psychologist: Gerry Hussey

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