David Matthews's rehabilitation from the problems which plunged his career into something of a crisis last season was confirmed by another convincing performance at the Cork City Sports.

On a day taken from winter, Matthews earned the gratitude of the crowd at the Mardyke, with an exhilarating late run which enabled him to beat Curtis Robb on the line in a time of one minute 47.76 seconds.

With overseas athletes dominating many of the events, it was a reassuring home success which compensated for a dismal run by Mark Carroll in the 5,000 metres race, won with some aplomb by the Kenyan, Sammy Kipketer.

In the void created by Sonia O'Sullivan's temporary break from competition and Catherina McKiernan's decision to concentrate on road running, Carroll is perceived as the most realistic Irish prospect of winning a medal at the world championships at Seville in August.

Here, he was undeniably upstaged, however, by Matthews, a man who was, himself, at the sharp end of some upheavals of form last season when James McIlroy and James Nolan emerged to top the 800 metres rankings.

Since the untimely death of Noel Carroll, the UCD athlete has been coached by Jim Kilty but now, as he reflected on his third win in four 800 metres starts this season, he was quick to remember his old tutor.

"Sometimes it takes a shock to refocus athletes and help them get their act together. In my case, Noel's death did just that and I dedicate this win, my first ever in Cork, to him".

Matthews has yet to achieve a qualifying standard for Seville, a product, in part, of his inability to get into the bigger international races. But as word of his renaissance spreads, the hope is that it will be reflected in more frequent Grand Prix appearances.

This was certainly a throwback to the days when he was being acclaimed as our most promising 800 metres runner since Carroll. Fifth going down the back straight for the second time, his self-belief never deserted him and that was the most impressive aspect of his performance.

In a situation in which he might well have pressed the panic button, he kept his composure to pass the three Kenyans, Sammy Langat, Luka Kiptoo and Robert Kibet in a manner which brooked no argument.

That contrasted with a recurring failure to go through with his finishing runs last season and he illustrated the point still more powerfully down the back straight to rein in Robb, a seasoned British international, in almost the last stride.

The story of Carroll's 5,000 metres eclipse is easily told. Unwilling or unable to respond when the Kenyans, Sammy Kipkeer and Albert Chepkurai went out with two laps of 59 seconds, he had become hopelessly detached by the end of the first kilometre and after that, his problems multiplied by the lap.

Kipketer, accompanied by his compatriot for most of the journey, kicked clear with 1,500 metres to go and on to win by almost 11 seconds in figures of 13 minutes 15.66 seconds.

Some 200 metres further back, Carroll was embroiled in a seperate struggle among the second group of runners. And here the going was no more rewarding as he struggled home in ninth place overall in 13 minutes 52.10 seconds. It was in every respect, a disturbing run and now he plans to return to the United States to work on his problems before returning next month for the national championships.

Elsewhere, Susan Smith's attempt on the world best of 25.70 seconds for the rarely contested 200 metres hurdles event, perished in the wind and the inability of the opposition to stretch her in the second half of the race.

A time of 26.39 seconds was disappointing after some encouraging training sessions and now, she would appear to have some hard work ahead of her in forthcoming meetings at Gateshead and Lausanne.

Some powerful wind-assisted sprinting by Gary Ryan augured well for the coming months and in the women's 1,500 metres, Elaine Fitzgerald, home from the United States, ran on well to beat the emerging Lucan athlete Niamh Beirne in four minutes 13.71 seconds.

The class act of the meeting, however, was the Australian Cathy Freeman who won the 200 and 400 metres events and only just failed to complete the treble when England's Melanie Perkis edged her on the line in the 100 metres race.

That represented a useful day's work for the Olympic silver medallist but in terms of hard labour, it scarcely compared with that of Sunita Rani. The Indian was given a time of 16 minutes 47.35 seconds in winning the women's 5,000 metres and then discovered that because of an error by the lap marker she had run 400 metres too far.