Mary Cullen narrowly missed out on a medal at the European Cross Country championships in Brussels this afternoon. The Sligo athlete came home in fourth place, just two seconds outside a place on the podium.
Hilda Kibet of the Netherlands took the gold medal in a time of 27 minutes, 45 seconds, with the Portuguese duo of Jessica Augusto and Ines Monteiro claiming silver and bronze.
Cullen's time of 28 minutes and four seconds confirmed her recent return to top form but was good enough only for fourth.
There was little Christmas cheer for the Irish contingent in the men's race with Martin Fagan the leading finisher in 24th.
Sergiy Lebid of the Ukraine claimed a remarkable eighth title, holding off the challenge of Britain's Mo Farah to finish in a time of 30 minutes, 49 seconds.
There was disappointment, meanwhile, for Dundrum's Linda Byrne in the women's under-23 race. Sixth last year, Byrne could only manage 10th place on this occasion.
Results
Men's Race
1 Sergiy Lebid (Ukr) 30:49
2 Mo Farah (Gbr) 30:57
3 Mustafa Mohamed (Swe) 31:13
4 Ayad Lamdassem (Spa) 31:17
5 Pieter Desmet (Bel) 31:19
6 Bouabdellah Tahri (Fra) 31:21
7Alemayehu Bezabeh (Spa) 31:23
8 Rui Pedro Silva (Por) 31:26
9 Michel Butter (Ned) 31:30
10 Frank Tickner (Gbr) 31:39
Irish
24 Martin Fagan 31:57
32 Alan McCormack 32:11
36 Gary Murray 32:17
37 Andrew Ledwith 32:19
42 Mark Carroll 32:27
74 Mark Christie 34:32
Women's Race
1 Hilda Kibet (Ned) 27:45
2 Jessica Augusto (Por) 27:54
3 Inês Monteiro (Por) 28:02
4 Mary Cullen (Irl) 28:04
5 Rosa María Morató (Spa) 28:17
6 Adriënne Herzog (Ned) 28:19
7 Anália Rosa (Por) 28:25
8 Hattie Dean (Gbr) 28:30
9 Louise Damen (Gbr) 28:33
10 Elena Romagnolo (Ita) 28:39
Irish
29 Deirdre Byrne 29:18
41 Rosemary Ryan 29:47
57 Hazel Murphy 31:22
60 Kerry Harty 32:13