Golden Girl: Donegal boxer Roisin Hegarty powers to European gold in Montenegro

Roisin Hegarty swept to a stunning European gold in Montenegro on Saturday.

Twin Towns Boxing Club lightweight Hegarty defeated Tetiana Zvenihorodska in the 63kgs final at the European U15 Championships.

The superb Hegarty took a unanimous decision following an excellent performance to topple the Ukrainian.

The Letterkennt teenager is only the third Donegal boxer in history to win a European gold. Her Twin Towns BC predecessor Steven O’Reilly won 68kgs gold at the 2004 European Schoolboys while Jason Quigley of Finn Valley ABC won Elite, U22 and Youth golds in 2013, 2012 and 2009.

After an even start to the contest Hegarty, again making good use of her left jab, began to assert her control on things.

At the end of the opening round, Hegarty was 10-9 in front on the cards of the judges from Hungary, Poland, Montenegro, Lithuania and England.

Hegarty began the second round with a cracking left hand that rocked Zvenihorodska back on her heels. The eye-watering shot set the tone for the round and Zvenihorodska struggled to make inroads.

Hegarty continued to prod at Zvenihorodska and was 10-18 ahead on all five cards heading into the final two minutes. While Zvenihorodska came from the stool aggressively, she was no match for the classy Hegarty, who takes her place among an elite list of Donegal boxers.

Hegarty overcame Ivana Kilci via a split decision in her semi-final.

Having stopped Mia Aleksa in the third round of her quarter-final bout last Saturday, Hegarty had a bit of a wait to duck between the ropes again, but she overcame Kilci on Thursday.

Earlier this year, Hegarty - who was beaten in a quarter-final at the 2024 European Schoolgirls Championships in Bosnia & Herzegovina - won the Irish U15 64kgs title at the National Stadium.

A student at Loreto Secondary School, Hegarty defeated Jessica Flanagan from Belfast in the final having won the Girl 1 51kgs title in 2023 and adding the Girl 2 57kgs and Junior Cadet 60kgs crowns in 2024.

She lives in Letterkenny and is the daughter of Raymond Hegarty and Norma Tembo.

This European U15 Championships is the inaugural championships held by World Boxing’s European confederation, European Boxing.

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This is the 17th medal won by a Donegal boxer at European level. As well as the golds of O’Reilly and Quigley, there were medals for: Tyrone McCullagh (Illies Golden Gloves) took bronze at the 2010 Elites; Cathal McMonagle (Letterkenny, fighting out of Holy Trinity) and William McLaughlin (Illies Golden Gloves) won EU Championships silver in 2007 and 2009; Maeve McCarron (Carrigart) and Leah Gallen (Raphoe) won Youth bronzes in 2013 and 2019; while Gallen won a European Junior bronze in 2018; St Bridgets’ Clonmany man Paddy Harkin won European Cadet bronze in 2007; and there were European Schoolboy/girl bronze medals for Michael Gallagher (Finn Valley), Brett McGinty (St Johnston, fighting out of Oakleaf); Leon Gallagher (Finn Valley), Carleigh Irving (Illies Golden Gloves) and Thomas Ward (Ballyshannon, fighting out of Carrickmore) in 2010, ’12, ’13 and ’19.