Aoife O’Rourke makes it back-to-back European titles in Bulgaria

Aoife O’Rourke’s gold medal victory in Sofia put the icing on the cake for Team Ireland at the European Elite Boxing Championships.Fourteen Irish boxers competed at the Asics Arena in Sofia over the course of eight days, with O’Rourke and her younger sister, Lisa, producing the best results by topping the podium in their respective weight categories.“The way we are now, we’re riding the tide,” said Aoife, moments after her unanimous victory over Turkey’s Busra Isildar in the 75kg category.It is a fourth European gold for O’Rourke and a fourth confederation-level title, in addition to her 2023 European Games gold.READ MORE“We’ll look back when we’re older and be like, they were such special memories that we created together, and it goes down in history with us being sisters on the same team,” reflected the Roscommon woman.“But honest to God, I’ve seen Lisa through all her injuries, and to finish on top of the podium last night, nobody deserves it more. She genuinely put in the hard work behind the scenes to get to this moment.”Overall, there were four medals collected by interim head coach Damian Kennedy’s squad. It might have been more had double Olympic champion Kellie Harrington not suffered an 11th-hour injury that ruled her out of her first major championships since the Paris Games.O’Rourke’s success in Friday evening’s session capped a day of celebration for the team, as Michaela Walsh and Jon McConnell were also involved in medal ceremonies.Walsh (33) lost her 57kg semi-final on Thursday, but her efforts this week were enough to secure the bronze medal.It was the same result for her fellow Belfast boxer McConnell, who was awarded his 70kg bronze after winning three bouts to make it into the last four in his weight category.Ireland’s Aoife O’Rourke celebrates with her gold medal. Photograph: Vassil Donev/Inpho But the day, and the week, belonged to the Castlerea siblings. After Lisa was crowned European champion in the 80kg division on Thursday, Aoife emulated her sister’s emphatic display by defeating Isildar, a multiple World and European medallist, 24 hours later.She overcame two world champions, Agata Kaczmarska of Poland and Russia’s Saltanat Medenova, en route to the final before repeating her World Boxing Championship final victory in Liverpool a year ago against 24-year-old Isildar.The outcome was never in any doubt. O’Rourke took control from the start and Isildar had no answer to the 29-year-old’s effective left jab, usually followed by a quick-fire right.O’Rourke took the first round 5-0, the second round was a carbon copy, and she remained the more positive boxer in the final round.The judge from Morocco was the only one to award the third round to Isildar, in a unanimous victory for the Irish woman, with four cards reading 30-27 and the other 29-28 in her favour.The team is due to land at Dublin Airport at 9.55am on Saturday morning. The O’Rourkes will have a couple of special souvenirs to show off on arrival.“It’s genuinely hard to sum up,” Aoife said. “Look, we all want to get in and want to perform and reach that final stage, but to actually have it happen again – not for my first time, but for my fifth time – I honestly can’t believe it right now.“It’s just really, really special and I’m looking forward to enjoying the moment.“It’s step by step. You can’t be looking too far ahead and get distracted by other things. We only have this moment here now, and there’s no point worrying about the future. It’s not going to get you anywhere; it will just cause you headaches.“I’m trying to be a lot more present, and the same with my boxing. When I’m in the ring, I’m in the ring – and when I’m in boxing mode, I’m in boxing mode. Just tune in for those moments.”