The 42-year-old from Belmullet finished a superb fifth in the marathon major against a world-class field, clocking 2:26:23 to come home less than four minutes behind race winner Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya (2:22:38).

All of this and more ...

In the realm of Irish distance-running, this was the best performance for many years – a two-hour, 24-minute reminder to those in Athletics Ireland of what might have been.