Sonia O’Sullivan gave the legion of fans in her native Cork plenty to shout about as she made a winning return after a four-year competitive absence from the city.
O’Sullivan took the 51st Cork City Sports 3,000 metres in a time of 8:38.99, her fastest time over the distance since 2000, coming home comfortably ahead of Una English (8:54.73) in second and America’s Amy Rudolph (9:02.62) in third.
Just outside a place on the podium was Ann Keenan-Buckley, the veteran Irishwoman coming home in fourth.
The local crowd had earlier seen another Cork athlete, Mark Carroll, pull-up during the men’s 5,000 metres with two and a half laps to go. Carroll, who was not injured and was at a loss to explain his poor showing, complained of lethargy and stressed the need to "get some life back in the legs."
Elsewhere, Northern Ireland’s James McIlroy continued his build-up to the Commonwealth Games winning the 800 metres with a time of 1:46.89.