Sparta's Thomas O'Reilly brings home silver medal from European School Championships

The 14-year-old, who trains out of the Grangemouth club, still took home a silver medal from the event which took place in Turkey earlier this month.

He was chosen to take part with three other young Scottish boxers after a rigorous selection process by Boxing Scotland’s high performance centre team.

Scotland’s campaign was kicked-off in style by O’Reilly with a unanimous decision victory against Ireland’s Cian Michael Stapleton in their 52kg round of 32 outing.

He then defeated Ukraine’s Tymur Karaivan in the last 16 stages via 4-1 split decision, edging each round on the judges scorecards. It was a gruelling encounter but O’Reilly showed the heart of a lion to ensure he landed the last telling punch in the majority of exchanges.

He then boxed Muhammet Ali Buddakoglu of the host nation, Turkey.

O’Reilly showed a different facet to his game in the quarter finals by boxing on the outside and using his feet to manoeuvre a strong opponent.

His footwork was exceptional and he was too quick and agile, winning by unanimous decision.

In the semi final, he faced Salvatore Lo Piccolo. The Italian was a very well schooled technician. O’Reilly displayed ring IQ and discipline throughout the contest.

Each round featured exciting and spirited exchanges, but his quicker hands gave him the edge to a majority decision.

The Sparta boxer then went on to face English rival Tom Connors in the final.

He had previously defeated the English southpaw two months prior at the GB championships via split decision.

O’Reilly came out boxing well in the opening round, and landed a number of clean left-hooks and right-hands. The second round was more of a cagey affair, with the crafty English southpaw looking to have edged the round with a few clean counters.

He came out aggressive in the third round and forced the pace landing the more eye catching shots and winning the majority of the exchanges.

O’Reilly was incredibly unlucky to miss out on a gold medal after close 3-2 split decision loss.

Sparta’s head coach, Sam McLeod said of O’Reilly’s medal achievement: “Thomas was the only boxer out of his group that didn’t receive a bye at the beginning of the tournament. He boxed five fights to achieve a silver medal, drawing some of the toughest nations in his category.

"It could be argued that O’Reilly’s route to the final was one of the most challenging out of the whole tournament. I couldn’t be more proud of him and the way he performed and carried himself in victory and defeat.

"It is an unbelievable achievement to have won a silver medal at his first international tournament."

O’Reilly also made local history by winning silver. The only other boxer to win a medal at these championships was Bryce Stewart (Zetland) 15 years ago, who received the bronze medal.

He is now part of Scotland’s development squad and will be aiming to follow in the footsteps of the Scottish boxers that recently won gold at the Commonwealth games.