YOUNG Mayo boxers brought home two silver medals from the the European Schoolboy s’ Championships which concluded in Grozny, Russia last weekend.
Ballinrobe’s Matthew Burke and Sean Conroy of Ballyhaunis Boxing Club were both part of the Irish team who enjoyed great success in the prestigious tournament, and the duo returned to Dublin Airport last Sunday evening to a hero’s welcome.
Burke, who is also a talented Gaelic footballer, had to settle for silver after losing out to a Russian opponent in Saturday’s 76Kg final.
The Ballinrobe fighter qualified for the decider after victories over Sergey Zelenskiy (Ukraine) in the quarter-final and Muhammed Canpolat (Turkey) in the last four.
However, the up and coming young Mayo boxer went down 11-2 against Arthur Germanovich after a brave performance in the final.
Meanwhile, Seán Conroy, who lined out with Claremorris GAA club in the recent All-Ireland U-14 Féíle football finals, was out of luck in his European semi-final bout.
In the 65kgs division, Conroy beat Aleksa Vyachesiav (Azerbaijan) 5-1, before losing out to Vitaly Bakhmatov (Russia) 4-6 in the last four.
