Christina Desmond has become the third Irish woman to medal at the European Elite Boxing Championships, writes Stephen Barry.

The Macroom middleweight dominated her Russian opponent Oksana Trofimova in the quarter-final, winning every round to ensure a minimum of a bronze medal to add to her recent World University Championship bronze.

Desmond won 36:40, 35:40, 36:40 on the judges’ cards, with one judge even awarding her a 10:8 round.

Katie Taylor and Clare Grace are the only two other Irish boxers to medal at the biennial championship, which is being run for the tenth time this year.

Desmond will face France’s Maily Nicar on Tuesday evening with a place in the final and a medal upgrade the prize on offer.

Natasha Gale (England) and Lauren Price (Wales) fight in the other semi-final.

Ireland’s other medal hopes, featherweight Moira McElligot and welterweight Grainne Walsh, were beaten by Russian boxers. Natalya Samokhina was a unanimous winner over McElligot (40:35, 40:34, 40:34) and Walsh lost a close contest to Saadat Abdulaeva (39-37, 38-38, 39-37).