Para cyclist Katie-George Dunlevy and pilot Eve McCrystal brought the curtain down on their brilliant partnership by winning the silver medal in the women's B 3000m individual pursuit at the Paralympic Games.
They missed out on gold by 2.166 seconds to Britain's Sophie Unwin and her pilot Jenny Holl, having led for the first two-thirds of the final ride-off at the National Velodrome on Sunday afternoon.
Dunlevy and McCrystal finished in a time of 3:21.315 which was just under a second down on the mark they set in the morning's qualifying session. Afterwards they confirmed that was their final ride together after a hugely successful era.
They had already secured at least a silver medal by finishing second fastest overall in the qualifying heats with a time of 3:20.481 behind Unwin who broke the world record in 3:17.643.
Dunlevy and McCrystal's success secures Team Ireland's second medal of Paris 2024 after para swimmer Róisín Ní Ríain claimed silver in the women's S13 100m backstroke.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport in the aftermath of the final Dunlevy said they had done the best they could in pushing the British tandem as closely as they did.
"We left it out there in those two rides. We did the race of our lives there to get that medal and we had to," she said.
"We were up against it and we delivered under pressure. I'm so proud of us both for doing that together."
McCrystal added that it was an end of an era for the pair which also yielded a silver medal three years ago in Tokyo.
"That's our last ride together. To finish that off with a silver medal at the Paralympic Games backing up after Tokyo, I actually can't believe it," she said.
"I think I left my soul on the first ride and then to back it up, I'm so proud but I knew we could do it. We have to do it on the day."
McCrystal added: "When you're so close to gold, you're slightly disappointed you didn't get it but we're absolutely ecstatic with silver.
"We knew we could do it but we're up against three British bikes. It lets a little bit of doubt creep it. Underneath it all we knew we could do it, but you have to deliver it on the day."
Injuries have severely hampered their preparation – Dunlevy suffered a broken collarbone in May after falling heavy off the bike – but the setbacks focused their attention.
With their pedigree and experience, a final shot at glory was all they needed.
"It's taken a lot of commitment, determination and sacrifice," Dunlevy said reflecting on their decorated career.
"When we get on the bike we know we have worked hard. We back each other and we’re not going to let the other person down when it comes to the races, we’re both so competitive.
"I know on that track that Eve has given it all and she knows that I have as well."
Josephine Healion narrowly missed out on the medal races as the Offaly native and pilot Linda Kelly set the fifth fastest time overall in 3:27.425, although they set a new PB in the process.
In the men's B 1000m final, Martin Gordon and pilot Eoin Mullen finished fifth in a time of 1:01.520.
Britain's took gold and silver with James Ball and Neil Fachie respectively, while Thomas Ulbricht of Germany clinched bronze.
Sligo native Gordon had booked his place in the medal finals earlier on Sunday.
Needing to finish in the top six to qualify for the final, a new Irish record time of 1:01.158 was enough for fifth fastest.
A crash in training on Monday threatened to derail their plans, but a PB in the morning followed by a solid outing in the final, Gordon says there is much to be pleased about.
"Eoin was saying the lines were tidier on that effort, but the time was marginally slower," he told RTÉ Sport.
"Everybody went marginally slower this afternoon. To back up the national record this morning, two and a half hours later to go three tenths of a second slower, it's backed up, it’s a good result and it shows a massive effort on our part.
"We had a bad crash on Monday and we didn’t know if we’d be here at all today. It was an unfortunate accident. One of the other nations’ tandems had a blowout in front of us.
"They came down, left us with nowhere to go. It was just one of those freak accidents on an open track.
"It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t so bad that we couldn’t get through the week. Where we were on Monday, I would have taken your hand off to do what we just did today."
Damien Vereker and pilot Mitchell McLaughlin missed out on the medal race after finishing 10th overall.
In para rowing, Katie O' Brien and Tiarnán O'Donnell were second in the B final of the PR2 mixed double sculls at Vaires-sur-Marne to ensure an eighth place ranking overall.
Follow all the action from the Paralympic Games with coverage on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, watch live on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player or listen to updates and live commentaries with RTÉ Radio.
