CLONARD ABC light-middleweight Gerard French reached the quarter-finals of the European Junior Championships in Anapa, Russia last week before bowing out to highly-rated Bulgarian Alexsander Kalinov.
French had bounced back from receiving a public warning for holding in the first session to register a split decision win over Artur Kislev of Belarus in the last 16 and join Martin Stokes, Liam Callaghan, Frankie Cleary, Oliver McCarthy and John Joyce in the last-eight.
He was involved in another tough battle with Kalinov and lost out 29-28, 30-27, 29-28 but Ireland team manager Stephen Connolly was impressed with the Belfast fighter's array of skills.
"It was a tremendous performance from Gerard," he said after his win over Kislev.
"He really pulled out all the stops."
St Michael's, Athy fighter Joyce went on to be crowned European Junior light-welterweight champion following a commanding victory over Russia's Shakhin Aslanov. Cleary and Stokes took home silver medals.
"It was a fantastic performance from John," said Connolly.
"We're absolutely delighted to win the gold medal. All our lads gave it absolutely everything and they can be very proud of their performances as can our entire squad this week."