European Games: Brendan Irvine edged out in gold medal bout

Brendan Irvine in action against Bator Sagaluev in the light-flyweight final

Belfast light-flyweight Brendan Irvine had to settle for a silver medal at the European Games after narrowly losing his final in Baku on Thursday.

Ireland fighter Irvine, 19, lost the contest on a split decision to Russian gold medallist Bator Sagaluev.

The St Paul's Club boxer lost the first round on all three judges' scorecards and two of the trio also awarded his opponent the second round.

Irvine was the unanimous winner of the third round but lost 2-1 overall.

One judge had Irvine the winner by 29-28, while the other two gave Sagaluev the verdict by the same margin.

Sagaluev, 23, dominated the first round, repeatedly finding a way through Irvine's guard, but the teenager improved in the second, although two of the judges decided the Russian had landed enough punches to win the round.

The Irishman had enjoyed a thrilling win over Dmytro Zamotayev of Ukraine in his semi-final in the 49kg division, having previously seen off number one seed, Salman Alizada of Azerbaijan, to assure himself of a medal.

Irvine has qualified for October's AIBA World Elite Men's Championships in Doha, Qatar, which is a qualifier for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

If he finishes in a top two position by reaching the final, Ireland will have earned two Olympics places in the light-fly class, as Paddy Barnes has already claimed a 49kg quota place through the World Series of Boxing.

However, each country can only field one representative in each weight class at the Olympics, and Irvine, if he won a silver in Doha, would be more likely to end up in a box-off against Limerick's Myles Casey for Ireland's 52kg berth in Rio given that Barmes has already clinched the 49kg place.

Meanwhile in badminton, Sam and Joshua Magee have secured a place in the men's doubles semi-finals.

The Donegal brothers enjoyed a 2-1 win over Belgium's Matijs Dierickx and Freek Golinski in their quarter-final.

Number one seeds Chloe and Sam Magee are also through to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles after beating Polish pair Aneta Wojtkow and Pawel Pietryja.

In a match that lasted 34 minutes, the Donegal brother and sister duo beat the Poles 21-18, 21-12.

Chloe, 26, and Sam, 25, will face France's Gaetan Mittelheisser and Audrey Fontaine in the semi-finals on Saturday morning.

Swimmer Emma Reid qualified for the 100m butterfly semi-final in a time of 1:02.66 in her heat while Rachel Bethel also qualified for the 200m freestyle semi-finals with a time of 2:05.37.

Reid and Bethel both featured in the women's 4x100m team which came third in their heat to qualify for the final, with Danielle Hill and Mona McSharry making up the rest of the quartet.