Eilish and Roisin Flanagan were welcomed back at the Finn Valley Centre tonight to celebrate their two bronze team medals at the European Cross Country Championships in Italy.
The pair both finished in the Senior Women’s race, in an identical time of 27:38 with Eilish 11th and Roisin 12th as Ireland scored 50 points, five ahead of Spain.
Mary Mulhare was in 27th as the third counter, while Letterkenny AC’s Ann Marie McGlynn was 31st.
Eilish said: “ We were pretty delighted with the performance and the team medal really topped it off, especially when I don’t think anyone was expecting it so that made it a lot more special.”
Roisin added: “When it was confirmed, we were overjoyed, our faces said it all.”
The team were without the talent of Fionnuala McCormack and Ciara Mageean, two of Ireland’s top long distance runners, which added to how impressive the feat was for Ireland to pick up the bronze medal.
Mageean pulled out of the squad just a week before the Championship, and was replaced by Eilish who would end up going on to finish first in the Ireland team, and she felt she had a point to prove.
She added: “It reassured me that I did belong there, so to be able to do that was great.”
The girls added that this success is up there in the top three successes of their careers so far.
Watch the full interview below:
