Three Mayo boxers set to compete in National Elite Championships

Three boxers from Mayo are among 75 from 17 counties competing for coveted titles when the 2026 National Elite Championships begin on Friday (January 9) at the home of Irish boxing.

The three Mayo boxers are 2024 European champion Shannon Sweeney of St. Anne's BC in Westport, Carlagh Peake of Ballyhaunis BC, and Rasheed Momoh of Castlebar BC.

They join the likes of double Olympic champion Kellie Harrington, Paris Olympians Daina Moorehouse, Jenny Lehane, Michaela Walsh, Jude Gallagher, Dean Clancy and Jack Marley, Olympian and 2025 world champ Aoife O’Rourke, Paris Olympian and 2025 world bronze medalist Grainne Walsh, and 2025 world bronze medalist Patsy Joyce.

In addition to Mayo's three boxers, there are competitors from Dublin (23), Antrim (11), Galway (7), Westmeath (5), Waterford (4), Kildare (3), Cork (2), Down (2), Leitrim (2), Meath (2), Offaly (2), Roscommon (2), Louth (1), Tyrone (1), Wexford (1) and Wicklow (1). There are two elite champions-by-walkover: Emma Keating of Paulstown BC, Kilkenny, at 80kg, and Cliona D’Arcy of Tobar Pheadair BC, Galway, at 80+kg.

The Elite Championships, Ireland's premier amateur boxing tournament, was first hosted in 1922 at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, after an earlier All-Ireland event in 1920, eventually finding a permanent home at the purpose-built National Stadium in 1939.

Double Olympian and multiple Commonwealth Games medalist Michaela Walsh, Belfast, holds the record for winning the most elite titles, having won her 13th at the 2025 National Elite Championships.

The championships open on Friday at 6 p.m., with all three Mayo boxers in action that evening. Bouts continue on Saturday (January 10) at 3 p.m. and on Friday week (January 16) at 6.30 p.m., with all finals to be boxed from 6 p.m. on Saturday, January 17.