IRISH skipper Ken Egan, Darren Sutherland and John Joe Joyce completed an incredible day for Irish amateur boxing after claiming three places at the 2008 Olympics following semi-final wins in Athens, Greece yesterday.

Boxers winning their semi-finals bouts in the Greek capital were guaranteed passage to Beijing from the final Olympic qualifier for European boxers.

And Egan, Sutherland and Joyce pulled off an incredible hat-trick yesterday afternoon with all three chalking up emphatic victories at the Olympic Centre of Nikaia.

Joyce, from the St Michael's Athy club, got the day off to a perfect start, taking all four rounds against German light welterweight Sipahi Harun before earning a 27-12 win.

And St Saviours OBA Dublin middleweight Sutherland followed that up with an inside- the-distance victory over Moldavian Victor Cotiujanschii, who retired injured in the third round. Sutherland was 21-7 up by the time Cotiujanschii retired.

Egan was in against light heavyweight Gottlieb Weiss -- an opponent he beat 15-12 in a round-robin tournament in Germany last August.


And the Neilstown Dublin clubman, who has yet to be beaten in Irish competition this century, did the double over his German opponent, winning 21-11.

Commentating on the three wins, the President of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association, Dominic O'Rourke, said they were absolutely thrilled.

There was double joy for O'Rourke yesterday, as he is also President of the St Michael's Athy boxing club and coach to John Joe Joyce.

"Ken, Darren and John Joe performed magnificently not only in yesterday's semi-finals but in all their bouts in Athens this week," O'Rourke said.

"It has been a fantastic day for Irish amateur boxing and we are very proud of these achievements and the performances of all our boxers out here this week."

Yesterdays hat-trick means that Ireland will have five boxers competing at the 2008 Olympic Games, as Holy Family Belfast light flyweight Paddy Barnes, and Cavan bantamweight John Joe Nevin, have already qualified for Beijing.

Having five qualified for the 2008 Olympics is a 400pc improvement on the 2004 Olympics. where Andy Lee from the St Francis club in Limerick, was Irelands sole representative

Meanwhile, Egan, Sutherland and Joyce will have to put the euphoria of Olympic qualification to one side for now to concentrate on today's finals -- and the Irish skipper and team-mates have only one thing on their minds.

"We're going for gold tomorrow, have no doubt about it," Egan said last night.

A total of 25 Olympic places will be distributed in Athens