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So the most successful European Championships in the long history of Irish athletics couldn’t quite end on one last triumphant note, but will still go down as the most memorable of seven days and nights. In the final individual event in Birmingham on Sunday night, Sarah Healy had to settle for fifth place in another highly tactical 1,500 metres showdown, her turn of pace in the thrilling climax leaving her just short of a medal. In a race where Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell succeeded Ciara Mageean as the European champion, winning in a slow time of 4:07.78, Healy did move from sixth to fifth in the final 50m, before running out of track and the last injection of speed which might have got her on to the podium. She finished in 4:10.76. Sophie O’Sullivan, at 24, was running in her first senior championship final, and like Healy also got herself into a prominent position early on. But after passing the 800m mark in a 2:21, it turned into a pure kickers race, and fell exactly into the hands of Hunter Bell. READ MORE O’Sullivan finished eighth in 4:11.72. Klaudia Kazimierska from Poland won silver in 4:08.80, with Patricia Silva from Portugal holding on for bronze in 4:09.22. The 25-year-old Healy had also set out on a redemption run after her narrow fourth-place finish in the 5,000m, five nights before. Sitting third, with two laps remaining, she’d dropped back to seventh at the bell. “Fifth is decent,” said Healy. “Obviously, I would have much rather liked a medal in one, or the other. My plan was just be in a good position, and then it was like 300m to go, I just missed a moment where the race was gone. Like all those girls, they’re really impressive. “Definitely a little frustrated, but I said this year I wanted some answers. I’ve found out some things, learned a few things, and proud of myself. I’m not used to doubling up, and being out here all week. “But I do still love the 1,500m, and I’ve still got so much unfinished business. Although the 5k is tempting, and maybe it’s where I will eventually end up. “But I’ve dedicated so much time to this event, I’m not finished with it yet. And I want to run for as long as I can, and I just know there’s so much more there in the 1,500. I know I can be up with those girls. I know I can run so much quicker.” O’Sullivan added: “I just think like I felt I should have done better. I’m not really sure where I kind of went wrong. I feel like I tried as hard as I could, but I thought I had a better preparation than I ever had going in.” Still, Ireland’s medal overall tally of four was the best in European Championship history. With two individual gold (Mark English and Kate O’Connor), one silver (Rhasidat Adeleke) and one bronze (Andrew Coscoran), Birmingham surpasses the four-medal haul from Rome two years ago, where two of the medals were won in relay events, the mixed 4x400 and women’s 4x400m. Birmingham also provided a series of European firsts for Irish athletics, these championships running since 1934. English became the first Irish man to win a European outdoor title in any event with his 800m triumph. Adeleke became the first Irish athlete to win a 200m medal. Both those medals were won within 22 minutes on Thursday night, before O’Connor’s heptathlon gold on Saturday was our first multi-event medal of any colour. Consider too these are the full standalone European Championships, invariably more competitive compared to the slightly watered down versions which also take place in Olympic year. That quality was highlighted on Sunday night when Amy Hunt, in anchoring Britain to the mixed 4x100m title on Sunday night, completed an unprecedented European quadruple in the same championship, also winning the 100m, 200m, and women’s 4x100m gold. Birmingham also provided another European gold medal for Femke Broeders-Bol, who anchored the Netherlands to the gold medal in the women’s 4x400m, where Ireland had won silver two years ago. It was also European gold medal number four for Sweden’s Armand Duplantis in the pole vault, after he cleared a championship record of 6.15m. This was a week that did not start on promising footing, beginning with Sharlene Mawdsley’s withdrawal through injury. Cian McPhillips was also cursing his luck after illness ruined his 800m chances, Healy’s fourth place in the 5,000m not helped by a tactical blunder. For the first time in at any championships, Ireland also qualified two finalists in the 4x100m. Bori Akinola, Sean Aigboboh, Marcus Lawler and Israel Olatunde ended up eighth in their final, with clear potential for improvement. The women’s quartet of Lucy-May Sleeman, Ciara Neville, Sarah Leahy and Lauren Roy finished seventh, after Portugal were disqualified, in 44.18 seconds. Truly a glorious week and unforgettable week in Birmingham for Irish athletics.