Brendan Irvine secures first European Games medal for Ireland

Brendan Irvine has defeated home favourite Salman Alizada to guarantee Ireland their first ever medal at the European Games.

The 19-year-old edged out top seed Alizada on points in the Azerbaijani capital to advance into the flyweight semi-final stage.

Irvine was edged out by Alizada in the opening round, but he soon recovered to take the second round and level things up overall.

Some fine boxing in the latter stages of the all-important third saw Ireland's youngest hopeful in this event score perfect 10s from the ringside judges, however, ensuring that he prevailed 29-28 29-28 28-29 at Crystal Hall.

Ireland have a chance to bolster their medals tally this week, with eight other boxing hopefuls advancing into the last-eight stage in all.