Castlerea boxer Lisa O’Rourke followed in her sister Aoife’s footsteps on Tuesday when she battled her way to European gold, coming out on top in the light-middleweight division at the European U-22 Championships in Porec, Croatia.
The talented fighter, who has represented the Roscommon Ladies footballers this term and was Ireland co-captain in Croatia, defeated Poland’s Daria Parada to win the final by split decision, 4-1 on the judges’ scorecards.
Fighting out of the blue corner, Lisa, who sealed her place in Tuesday’s decider with a win over Israel’s Lia Pukkila, started the stronger of the two as she took the fight to her Polish opponent.
Parada came into it more as the fight went on and used her power to good effect, forcing O’Rourke onto the ropes on a couple of occasions.
However, it was O’Rourke’s cleaner shots and continued aggression which caught the eyes of the judge, and her hand was raised in triumph following three tough rounds.
