Katie Taylor insists focus solely on Olympic qualification

Darren O’Neill believes the next week represents his best opportunity of qualifying for his second successive Olympic Games.

The Kilkenny southpaw and Ireland’s nine-strong squad, which includes Katie Taylor, are in the Turkish city of Samsun for the 39-nation European Olympic qualifiers which being today. 233 men and 59 women have entered - 22 in Taylor’s 60kg class.

The bottom line for Ireland is that the top three men – the finalist and winner of box-offs between the beaten semi-finalists - and the top two women – the finalists – qualify for Rio 2016.