Aoife O'Rourke impresses en route to European gold medal

Aoife O'Rourke secured a unanimous decision victory in the final of the European Games to win the gold medal in Poland.

The Roscommon boxer opened the fight against France middleweight Davina-Myrha Michel with a solid first round, impressing all five judges to take it 5:0 on the scorecards.

O'Rouke maintained the dominant performance throughout rounds two and three to secure an overall 5:0 decision to add another gold medal to her collection, having previously won the European Championships in 2019 and 2022.

The Castlerea native, who celebrated her 26th birthday with the victory, has enjoyed a near perfect week in Poland, where she also secured her ticket to the Paris Olympic Games.

Overall, Ireland leave the European Games with two gold medals - Kellie Harrington secured the other on Saturday - one silver, won by young heavyweight Jack Marley, and two bronze medals for Sligo's Dean Clancy and Belfast boxer Michaela Walsh.

All five boxers will compete for Ireland at next summer's Olympics in the French capital.

"It's a pretty special birthday, I couldn't have asked for it to go any better," said O'Rourke, speaking to RTE Sport after the victory. "'Im delighted to be coming away from the EG with a gold medal

"It was just going so fast, I just had to listen to my coach in the corner and implement it. It's great to see that I can mix it up, and get in with a girl like that and actually box.

"The coaches got the tactics spot on, it's not my usual style of boxing and I trusted them. I remained calm, lots of feinting and stuff like that and it all paid off. I have 100 per cent trust in their tactics."