Michaela Walsh banked Team Ireland’s fourth medal at the European Boxing Championships with a come-from-behind victory over Bulgaria’s Stanimira Petrova in Sofia.
Sisters Aoife and Lisa O’Rourke reached their respective finals, but Jude Gallagher bowed out at the quarter-final stage and Jon McConnell will settle for bronze.
Belfast’s Walsh, 33, who collected silver at this summer’s Commonwealth Games, was a unanimous decision winner [30-27, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28, 29-28] to move into the featherweight semi-final.
There she will face Hungary’s Kukhta Vlagyszlava in Thursday’s evening session.
“I knew this would be a tough fight, but coming into this tournament I really started to believe in myself,” Walsh told Boxing Ireland.
“I’ve been around the world and have done it so many teams. I can be my own harshest critic but I know I can give performances like that.
“I said to myself I’m not leaving Bulgaria without a medal and I’m so happy to get a performance like that and come out with a unanimous decision.”
It was a cagey start with Petrova gradually bringing her right into play off the jab after Walsh had some joy with raids on the inside, yet it was the Bulgarian ahead on four of the cards after the first.
Walsh was busier to start the second, scoring with two right hands and was showing more aggression, while her timing saw her find the mark in an impressive showing to sweep the round and lave it all to play for on four of the cards.
It was back to cagey in the third, Petrova landing with the only shot of note in the opening half with Walsh then bringing her own jab into play and finished strong in the final 30 seconds which saw her again sweep the round and take the victory.
