Michaela Walsh (Swinford) won a brilliant bronze in the hammer with a best throw of 61.27m on Saturday, continuing the Irish success story at the European Under-20 Athletics Championships in Grosseto, Italy.
The Mayo athlete stole the headlines as she also finished seventh in the shot put final also with a best of 15.62m.
Her medal follows up the gold won by sprinter Gina Akpe-Moses earlier in the competition.
"It’s unreal," said Walsh. "It’s a championship so it’s not about distances, it’s about placing. I’ve never been so nervous to stand into that ring.
"I’m so happy to bring a medal home for the field eventers and put them in the spotlight. We have so many talented field eventers in Ireland.
"I’ve been to a lot of major championships since 2013 and it’s my first medal so I’m really happy."
Walsh was also pleased with her shot put performance which she managed on tired legs directly after the hammer: "It was my second best throw of the season. Obviously I was tired with it."
Meanwhile in Morton Stadium, Phil Healy (Bandon) and Saragh Buggy (St Abban's) were two of the highlight performers on day one of the Irish Life Health national championships, winning the 200m in 23.56 and the triple jump with 13.01m respectively.
Ryan McCullough (Donore Harriers) won an excellent men’s hammer competition with a throw of 65.84m.
Watch live coverage of Irish National Championships on Sunday evening at 6pm on RTÉ 2
