For the Irish, this was their best-ever medal haul at the European Cross Country, but it was also so much more. For so many years, they had come to this event with hopes rested squarely on the shoulders of Fionnuala McCormack alone.

Fionnuala Britton cut a frustrated figure when she finished fourth at the European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade yesterday, but vowed to bounce back from this disappointment.

Ciara Mageean has come home in ninth place for Ireland in the junior women’s race at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Santry Park, Dublin, this morning.