O'Neill up two places in rankings

Irish middleweight Darren O'Neill is up two places to sixth in the ABA Amateur Boxing European Rankings just released for May 2007.

Following his gold medal win at the Ustinad Laben Senior Multi Nations in the Czech Republic this month, O'Neill, from the Paulstown club in Kilkenny, has moved to within three places of his fellow Irish team-mate Darren Sutherland (St Saviours OBA) who is in third spot.

Sutherland has won four Multi Nations medals in Europe this year and will be looking to add to that when the Irish Amateur Boxing Association host the European Union Championships at the National Stadium in Dublin between June 17th and 25th.

However, O'Neill's top of the podium finish in the Czech Republic was the former Kilkenny minor hurlers first international outing of this year since his return from a hand injury.

Meanwhile, Light heavyweight Ken Egan (Neilstown Dublin) remains in third position in the 81Kg category while the St Michael's Athy pair of David Oliver Joyce and John Joe Joyce are in 15th place in the featherweight and bantamweight sections.

Flyweight Conor Ahern (Baldoyle Dublin) occupies 16th spot and Immaculata Belfast bantamweight Ryan Lindberg is in 20th position.

In the Women's rankings, World and back-to-back European champion Katie Taylor (St Fergal's Bray) remains number one in the World and Europe and is also rated at number one in the World in the pound-for-pound category.

Taylor's Irish team-mate Alana Murphy (Eastside Belfast) is ranked sixth in the World and 4th in Europe at light welterweight.