LEAH GALLEN is guaranteed a bronze medal at the 2019 European Youth Championships in Bulgaria.
Gallen overcame Gulcan Arga from Turkey at the Sofia Sports Hall on a 4-1 split decision to seal a place on the podium.
Raphoe welterweight Gallen was a Bronze medalist at the 2018 European juniors and will return next week with at least a bronze after a fine win over the rugged Arga.
The Turk’s lace opened early in the opening round and it was a moment that appeared to set the tone for a stop-start bout.
The pair traded a few powerful blows in the pocket, but it was hard to find a rhythm. Any shots of note were landed by the Raphoe woman, however.
Gallen made decent use of her lead hand in the early spells and did likewise in a similarly scrappy second round.
On Thursday, Gallen defeated Annemarie Schierle from Germany on a 3-2 split decision, while Arga, for her part, received a bye into the quarter-finals.
Gallen held sway over the final verse to take the win and she now faces Viktyria Csilla Ambrus in a semi-final.
Gallen is a five-time Irish champion, winning her last national crown in July when she overcame Mary Enright in the U18 final at the National Stadium.
That win over Enright resulted in her second Irish crown of 2019 with the Donegal woman having beaten Linda Desmond in the Girl 6 66kgs final.
The big prize, though, was a place on the plane to Bulgaria, where 20 titles are up for grabs with 339 boxers competing.
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