Ireland in fifth place in Greece

Ireland are well positioned in fifth place after the opening day of the European Athletics Team Championships (1st League) in Heraklion, Greece, as they bid for promotion to the Super League for 2016.

The top three ranked countries at the end of tomorrow's events will be promoted for next year, and the Irish team will be hoping that the likes of multiple European medallist Mark English can deliver maximum points in the 800 metres tomorrow.

Ireland, who finished seventh last year, currently lie fifth overall on 143 points - only ten points behind third-placed Portugal - and were aided by a second place finish from 400m hurdler Thomas Barr.

The in-form Barr earned 11 points for his country after a titanic tussle with Estonia's Rasmus Magi, who edged it in a time of 49.59 seconds with the Waterford man clocking 49.66 just behind him.

There were a number of high-ranking finishes for Ireland over the course of the day, chief amongst them being sprinter Amy Foster's third place in the 100m (11.60 seconds) which garnered 10 points.

Michelle Finn (3000m steeplechase) and Sara Treacy (3000m) were both third in their respective races, while UCD athlete Ciara Everard placed fourth in the 800m with her brother Eoin fighting his way to sixth in the 1500m (3.43.09).

There were two more fourth places on the track, 400m specialist Brian Gregan hitting the line in 46.87 and his Dundrum South Dublin club-mate Kevin Batt clocking 15.21.08 in a slow and tactical 5000m.

Finn Valley's Dempsey McGuigan chalked up eight points in the hammer thanks to his fifth position, and Adam McMullen from Crusaders went one better with a leap of 7.52m for fourth place and a nine-point haul.

The young men's 4x100m quartet ran a new national Under-23 record of 40.18 seconds when finishing third in their heat, while their female counterparts were sixth in their race (45.16).

The full day 1 results and the teams standings are available here.