EUROPEAN LIGHT-FLYWEIGHT Champion Paddy Barnes will lead the Irish boxing team into battle at next week’s European Championships in Ankara, Turkey after the Irish Amateur Boxing Association (IABA) named its ten-man squad this morning.
Following his victory over Elvin Mamishzade in the gold medal bout in Moscow twelve months ago, the 24-year-old from Belfast is hoping to emulate Katie Taylor, becoming the first male Irish boxer to win back-to-back European titles.
Barnes will be joined by last year’s European Middleweight silver medallist Darren O’Neill in a squad which contains six other reigning Irish champions: Michael Conlon (flyweight), John Joe Nevin (bantamweight), Michael McDonagh (lightweight), Joe Ward (light-heavyweight), Con Sheehan (heavyweight) and Cathal McMonagle (super-heavyweight).
Twenty-year-old light-welterweight Ray Moylette of the St Anne’s club in Westport and 2009 Irish welterweight champion Willie McLaughlin round out the squad which sees Ireland represented in every weight division.
The team will be hoping to emulate the success of last year’s tournament in Russia where Ireland finished second behind the hosts in the medals table, winning a gold, a silver, and three bronze medals.
They are well aware that it will be a tough task if they are to reach a similar level of success this time around, as head coach Billy Walsh admitted this morning.
“The European Championships will be very competitive,” he said, “and if we don’t bring our best performance to the table them someone else will take our place, it’s as simple as that really.”
The team fly out to Ankara tomorrow ahead of the competition’s opening rounds on Friday.
- The Irish squad for the 2011 European Championships1/5
Poor form by United, the guy deserved time. Yeah he made a poor signing but Ferguson signed over a dozen Fellani’s in his time.
If he has been shown the door then surely many of the under performing players must also follow, they have been truly awful this season.
Alan would you also show most of the Barca team the door aswell considering their drop in stature in a much poorer league ?
Big mistake , you are so right , fergies first 3 years were shaky, and no better man to sign duds, the glaziers did the typical American thing going for the quick fix, when the players who are not fit to wear the shirt, obliged them by putting up their hands and surrendering. These are the boys who should have been cleared out and new quality replacements brought in, to play for moyse and the team . The cowardly sulks will just slip into the crowd now and won’t be seen again until they bottle it in some big game down the road for the new manager . Big chance lost .
Im a Real fan so they can all stay!
Seriously though Barca have their own share of overrated and declining players but they are still in the hunt for la liga, made one final and the QF of the champions league. United haven’t come close to anything like that so i don’t think its a correct comparison.
There are many under-performing players at united at present and few of them helped Moyes
Give him the Norwich job then beat United on Saturday
ID take the sack for that kind of cash.