Ireland's Darren O'Neill has spoken of his dismay after losing the heavyweight quarter-final to Ukrainian Gevorg Manukian at the European Games.

O'Neill controversially lost the fight on a split decision and by just one point.

"I'm absolutely gutted," O'Neill told reporters afterwards. "I'm going to have to come away and look at that fight after. I thought I did enough. Reports after tell me two judges gave me the second round and two judges the third so I won the second and third rounds and didn't win the fight.

"I thought I landed the cleaner shots, I felt it was my fight, I felt I won it and it's heartbreaking to be going home. He probably felt he won it as well.

"The new scoring system can be a little bit subjective, depending on the judges and the style they like. Even the home crowd at the end made it obvious that they felt the decision was wrong."

When asked about whether Rio 2016 was a realistic goal, O'Neill said: "I'm not realistically looking at it, I'm looking at the European championships in August. Unfortunately, I've been beaten in too many of these potential medal fights, this is my third European qualifier to be beaten in"

Maukian will now face Josip Bepo Filipi in the semi-finals on Friday.