Aoife O’Rourke, Patsy Joyce and Grainne Walsh secured medals for Ireland at the World Boxing Championships, with all three wins coming by split decision in Liverpool.

The three boxers now face semi-finals later in the week, where a loss would see them pick up a bronze medal, while a win would give them a shot at gold in Sunday’s finals.

O’Rourke faced Norway’s Sunniva Hofsted in a clash of styles, with the number two seed attempting to outbox the high-paced O’Rourke from the outside.

O’Rourke got the better of the exchanges early on and won the first round on four judges’ scorecards, before repeating that feat in the second.

In the final round, with Hofstad needing either a point deduction or a stoppage, O’Rourke continued to get the better of the action, with four of the judges giving her every round.

The victory saw the 28-year-old qualify for the 75kg semi-finals on Saturday, where she will face former world champion Lina Wang from China at 1.15pm.

Later in the afternoon, her medal-winning performance was matched by 19-year-old Patsy Joyce from Mullingar, who beat Uzbekistan’s Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov on a 3-2 split decision in the 55kg class.

Joyce had been left with a bad cut over his left eye from his round of 16 win, which was a concern entering this contest, but despite the fight being a scrappy affair, the cut did not open.

Joyce boxed off the back foot throughout, as Mirzakhalilov applied pressure, and the Mullingar native needed to win the final round to secure the decision.

After another highly competitive three minutes, the teenager had his hand raised and he will now box Spain’s Rafael Lozano Serrano at 2.15pm on Saturday in the semi-finals.

Grainne Walsh won her quarter-final bout against the Paris Olympic silver medallist Liu Yang of China to guarantee a medal in the 65kg class.

A close first round was scored to Walsh, who gave up a significant height and reach advantage to her opponent, but made up for it with excellent timing and hand speed.

Disaster nearly struck for the Offaly fighter when she was deducted a point for holding in round two, and it was Yang who went into the final round ahead on the cards.

However, a superb final three minutes saw Walsh account for the point deduction and win the contest via a 3-2 split decision, setting up a semi-final at 6.30pm on Friday.