Ireland win gold at U-23 Championships

Audio

• Greg Allen reports on a historic gold medal for Ireland in the U-23 event at the European Cross Country Championships in Portugal.
• Des Cahill speaks to Brendan O'Neill of the Irish Men's U-23 team who won a team gold at the European Cross Country Championships.
• Des Cahill speaks to David McCarthy of the Irish Men's U-23 team who won a team gold at the European Cross Country Championships.

Ireland's Men's team claimed a historic gold medal in the U-23 event at the European Cross Country Championships in Albufeira, Portugal on Sunday.

The Irish team of David McCarthy, Brendan O Neill, Michael Mulhaire and David Rooney saw off the challenge of France and Spain to claim gold.

The majestic team performance was the first gold medal in international cross-country since Catherina McKiernan’s individual gold medal winning performance back in the inaugural European Cross Country back in 1994 in Durham.

The Irish Team claimed their gold medals by packing extremely well and scoring 60 points from their first four runners of the team of six home across the line.

Finnoula Britton finished fourth in the Senior Women's race, which was won by Jessica Agusto of Portuga.

Earlier, Ciara Mageen finished seventh earlier in the Women’s junior race.

Ukrainian veteran Sergiy Lebid won the Men's European cross country title for the ninth time. Joe Sweeney was the best Irish finisher in 21st spot.