Ireland European U-23 Squad Ready For Action
A strong Team Ireland departed for the 2025 European U23 Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Friday
They’re among almost 300 boxers from 33 federations contesting for gold at this inaugural confederation-level World Boxing U23 championships. Competing federations are: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, England, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and Wales.
The team is comprised of 2025 National U23 champions, and includes World bronze medalist Patsy Joyce, World Boxing Championship boxer Louis Rooney – who was a 2024 European U23 champ, 2024 European U23 bronze medalist, Robyn Kelly, World Youth champion Cliona Darcy (2022), 2024 European Youth champion, Ava Henry and 2022 European Junior champion Tadgh O’Donnell.
The team includes boxers from 8 counties: Antrim (1), Down (1) Dublin (8), Galway (1), Mayo (1), Meath (1), Offaly (1), Westmeath (2)
The Team Co-Captains have been named as Robyn Kelly of Ballynacargy Boxing Club, Westmeath and James Whelan of Dublin Docklands. They will fly the flag for Ireland at Sunday’s Opening Ceremony.
Preparation
The team have begun a 10 week bloc of training at the High Performance Unit on the Sport Ireland Campus.
The team’s preparations included a 10 week bloc of training at the High Performance Unit on the Sport Ireland campus, a 3 day international Round Robin with an Ulster Select, England and Hungary, in October, a two-Internationals series against India in November, and an U23 V Elites sparring series in the High Performance Unit in November
European Championships
The tournament is taking place in Budapest, Hungary, from November 21st to 30th.
The draw, which sets out the path to the podium for each boxer in a given weight category, will take place on the evening of November 22nd, at around 8pm Irish time. Two rings will be in operation at Bok Sports Hall until the semi-final stage.
Preliminary rounds, including quarter finals, will be boxed from November 23rd to 26th. Thursday November 27th is a rest day, semi finals will be boxed on November 28th- and all finals will take place from 2pm on November 29th. It is expected that the championships will be live-streamed.
The team will return home on Sunday, November 30th.
Team Ireland
48kg Tiffany Spencer, Jobstown BC, Dublin
51kg Rachel Lawless, St. Brigid’s BC, Offaly
54kg Robyn Kelly, Ballynacargy Boxing Club, Westmeath
57kg Natalia Fascizewska, Castlebar BC, Mayo
60kg Rebecca Kavanagh, Mulhuddart BC, Dublin
65kg Ava Henry, Dublin Docklands BC
80+kg Cliona D’Arcy, Tobar Pheadair BC, Galway
50kg Louis Rooney, Star ABC, Belfast
55kg Pasty Joyce, Olympic BC, Westmeath
60kg Gavin Ryan, Ratoath BC, Meath
65kg Roy Colgan, Avona BC, Dublin
70kg Ryan Jenkins, Jobstown BC, Dublin
75kg Tadgh O’Donnell, Jobstown BC, Dublin
80kg James Whelan, Dublin Docklands BC
85kg Sean Mackay Trant, Monkstown BC, Dublin
90kg Garyn McAllister, North Down BC, Down
Support Staff
Team Manager: High Peformance Director, Jon Mackey
Coaches: James Doyle, Lynne McEnery, Ross Hickey (Grangecon BC, Wicklow/Defence Forces) and Paul Simpson (Saviours Crystal, Waterford)
Physio: Paddy O’Donnell and Rian Furley
Athlete Support: Aidan Walsh
R&J: Garry McGillion (Bishop Kelly BC, Tyrone)
