Jon McConnell Aims for European Glory After Commonwealth Success

Jon McConnell knows exactly what he wants. He’s seen the blueprint. Now he wants his own version.

When Kate O'Connor turned Commonwealth gold into European glory within weeks, the heptathlete set a standard that travelled far beyond her own discipline. It reached a boxing gym in Belfast, where a 23-year-old middleweight from Team NI watched, took note, and quietly decided he wanted that same double.

McConnell, who stormed to the 70kg title in Glasgow to claim Team NI's only boxing gold of the Games, heads to Sofia this week chasing his own sequel at the European Elite Championships.

"She is a big inspiration, winning the Commonwealths, had a week off and was back over in Birmingham to win [European] gold - hopefully I can replicate that," he told BBC Sport NI before flying out to Bulgaria.

That word – replicate – hangs over his campaign. Not copy. Match.

From childhood dream to new obsession

Glasgow changed McConnell’s life. It was the breakthrough he’d been chasing since he first laced up gloves.

"The Commonwealths was a goal for me since I was a kid," he said. It’s ticked off now, but instead of easing off, it has sharpened his appetite. "It's given me a taste for more and the only way to get that buzz is to go out and win major championships."

He isn’t treating Sofia as a warm-up. It’s a statement opportunity.

"I'm on the right road," he added, and there’s evidence to back that up. McConnell is already a two-time national elite champion. Make it three in January, and he expects to be in the frame for next year’s Olympic qualifying route.

For him, Los Angeles in 2028 is not a fantasy. It’s the long-term target that shapes every spar, every round, every risk.

"I take one fight and round at a time, but there is no reason why I can't be top of the podium as LA is my main goal."

A squad with something to prove

McConnell travels as part of a 14-strong Team Ireland squad to Sofia, a group that has had to absorb a late change. Two-time Olympic champion Kellie Harrington has withdrawn from the women’s lightweight division with a hand injury, with Kellie McLoughlin stepping in.

The medals will matter, of course. They always do. But this tournament also carries a different kind of weight. Many of the boxers in Bulgaria will be the same faces standing between Ireland and the Olympic ring when qualification for LA 2028 begins next year via the World Championships and European Games.

"It's going to be the same people you are boxing," McConnell pointed out. Sofia is a scouting mission and a proving ground rolled into one.

These are the rivals he must learn, solve, and then beat when the stakes climb even higher.

"These European Championships I want to put a marker down," he said. It’s not just about getting on the podium. It’s about planting a flag.

History, droughts and a shifting balance

Ireland’s recent European record tells a clear story. At the last Championships in Serbia in 2024, the team came home with two golds and two bronzes – every one of them won by women.

Shannon Sweeney took 50kg gold, now operating at 48kg, while Aoife O'Rourke claimed the 75kg title. Both are back in the current squad, proven winners on the continental stage.

Go back to Yerevan two years earlier and there was more success: Gabriel Dossen with gold, Dylan Eagleson with silver. But when the focus turns to the World Championships, the picture for the men darkens.

It has been nine years since Ireland’s men medalled at that level. Joe Ward’s silver, plus two medals from Michael Conlan – still the only Irish male to win a world gold – stand as lonely markers in a long stretch of underachievement.

That’s the backdrop McConnell and his peers are walking into. A talented group, but one still searching for a breakout moment.

“About to tip over the edge”

Interim head coach Damian Kennedy believes that moment is coming.

He has watched this squad closely since the turn of the year and sees signs that the dam is about to burst.

"Dean Clancy is going three fights deep into competitions on a regular basis, Jude Gallagher is going deep on a regular basis, Jack Marley is boxing the best I've ever seen him," Kennedy said.

"Sometimes success is measured in medals but that's not always the case as I've seen the progression here.

There are a number of athletes about to tip over the edge and when the floodgates open for the males, it will be amazing to watch."

That’s the challenge and the promise rolled into one. Progress is no longer enough. Someone has to kick that door down.

McConnell believes he can be one of the men to do it. He has already conquered the Commonwealth stage. Now he goes hunting in Europe, chasing that same surge of adrenaline, that same sense of arrival, that same double O'Connor delivered.

If he lands it, the road to Los Angeles will no longer feel like a distant dream. It will look like the next logical step.