Mayo's Shannon Sweeney has qualified for the 50kg final at the European Championships in Belgrade, with Aoife O'Rourke making the middleweight decider - but there was disappointment for Kellie Harrington and Niamh Fay.
Sweeney was up against Armenia's Anush Grigoryan and in a cagey first round, the Irish fighter was the aggressor and landed a series of quickfire combos to the body in particular, but Grigoryan was able to pick off enough head shots to get the nod on two of the five cards.
Sweeney was much more considered in round two, not afraid to go on the back foot and swinging less wildly, good enough to put her ahead on two scorecards and level on another three going into the final round.
With Grigoryan having to go for it, she left her chin constantly exposed and Sweeney was content to land a series of right hooks throughout the final round to catch the eye of the judges and secure a 5-0 victory.
Olympic champion Harrington suffered a first defeat in three years and 32 bouts as she lost out to Serbia's Natalia Shadrina.
In a tough first round, with Shadrina opting to box as close as possible, both landed big punches with Harrington being favoured on three of the five cards.
The second round was equally tight and although Harrington saw a number of shots get through in the final minute, she was in real bother as she only led on one scorecoard and trailed on two with Shadrina's left jab causing problems.
Harrington needed a big final round to keep her final hopes alive, but Shadrina continued to look fresh and took a split decision win in their 60kg contest.
Fay’s run ended at the semi-final stage against the Lacramioara Perijoc who won by unanimous decision in the 54kg class.
The Romanian’s reflexes were excellent, making her a hard target to hit, although Fay did rock her with a stiff jab in the middle of the first round.
Fay could consider herself unfortunate not to be up on at least one scorecard at the end of the first as the busier fighter, but she was chasing from there.
A scrappy second round followed with Fay shoved out of the ring at one stage. A late flurry of punches in the final seconds from Perijoc earned the judges’ favour again with Fay unable to salvage the fight with something special in the final round.
Roscommon boxer O'Rourke is guaranteed a silver medal at middleweight after her hard-fought win over Busra Isildar of Turkey.
Busra won the first round on four of the judges' scorecards, despite O'Rourke holding the centre of the ring and showing greater accuracy later in a frantic round.
A more composed and accurate O'Rourke took the second round on three cards thanks to three minutes of precise and patient boxing.
A tiring Busra was largely on her heels in the final round as O'Rourke remained the aggressor and the Irish fighter was rewarded by the judges with a split decision victory.
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