Barnes and Donovan add to Ireland’s Euro medals haul

EMPHATIC quarter-final victories for Olympic bronze medallist Paddy Barnes and Athy lightweight Eric Donovan mean Ireland is assured of five bronze medals, with the opportunity to cash them in for silver, at least, in tomorrow’s semi-finals at the European Senior Boxing Championships in Moscow.

Yesterday was another red letter day for Irish boxing with just one blip – hot favourite John Joe Nevin losing by the unbelievable margin of 7-1 to English bantamweight, Gamal Yafai, despite battering him with everything in his armoury.

The biggest performance of the day at the Ice Palace came from Eric Donovan, who scored with accurate jabs and put the perfect combinations together to leave the judges with no option but push the blue button.