As they signed off on another golden evening for Irish athletics and Irish sport, Sonia O’Sullivan, Rob Heffernan and Derval O’Rourke all used the same word to describe what they witnessed over the previous few hours. It felt apt.

What has transpired in Birmingham over the past week – from the rebirth of Rhasidat Adeleke to Mark English getting his just reward, up to Kate O’Connor’s remarkable consistency over her seven events – underlines that we are entering a golden era for Irish athletics.

The European track & field championships have been in existence since 1934 – the first edition took place in Turin – and for the 25 stagings and 90 years, only one Irish athlete managed to win gold and that was O’Sullivan, who was European champion three times.

In the past two championships, Ireland have won four gold medals – three in individual events and the mixed relay gold in 2024.

Even going back to the 2022 championships in Munich, Team Ireland only came back with two medals – Ciara Mageean’s silver in the 1500m and English’s bronze in the 800m. Two of those gold medals have come over the course of three days in Birmingham.

English’s wonderful 800m success on Thursday night, a just reward for the Donegal doctor for a lifetime that was geared towards this moment. And then what O’Connor did in the heptathlon.

So, these are heady and glorious days. No wonder the three RTÉ analysts couldn’t keep the smiles off their faces on Saturday night. As O’Rourke pointed out on the television coverage, it was noticeable how many youngsters were among the sizeable Irish crowd in Birmingham, and all of those young kids are now being inspired by O’Connor.

And there’s no question about it. O’Connor is the smiling face of this revolution in Irish athletics. What she has done over the past 18 months is nothing short of extraordinary. At seven major championships, she has collected seven medals. She followed up her excellent performance in the Commonwealth Games, where she won gold for Northern Ireland – she is eligible to compete for the North as she was born in Newry.

From becoming the first Irish heptathlete to compete at the Olympics, and finishing a respectable 14th in Paris, O’Connor’s career has gone into the stratosphere since claiming bronze at the European indoor championships in March of last year.

There was silver at the world indoors, gold at the world university games, silver at the world championships before this year, bronze at world indoors and what she has achieved in the past six weeks – becoming European champion after her Commonwealth gold.

And she mentioned, in the immediate aftermath of her gold medal on Saturday, that at each of those championships, she learnt a little bit more about herself, culminating in what we saw in Birmingham at the weekend.

‘Every experience has made me a better athlete, and I think that’s why I was able to navigate these last two days so well because of the experience that I’ve had from every other championship,’ she said moments after being crowned the European champion.

Her tally of 6,751 points was the biggest of her career, but it will not count as a new Irish record because the wind speed was too strong for three events – long jump, 100m hurdles and 200m.

However, O’Connor proved on Saturday night that she can handle the pressure of being the frontrunner – and was literally so when she raced to the front of her 800m, taking the race to her Dutch rival, Emma Oosterwegel who took silver with 6,713 points, while her compatriot, world indoor champion Sofie Dokter, took bronze with 6,664.

‘It was nerve-wracking coming into the final event in first place. Like, the whole heptathlon has been extremely nerve-wracking, coming in and knowing that it was going to be a really tough feat to get on the podium. I knew I had a really good chance of winning. I knew I had a really good chance of getting a medal. But then it’s another thing turning up and actually executing that.

‘And there were lots of moments where I was thinking, “Oh God, like is this going to happen for me?’’’

But it happened to her because she made it happen.

While O’Connor’s coronation was confirmed on Saturday evening, the most impressive of her seven events was probably the high jump, where she set a new personal best of 1.86m, and did so when she needed it, when she had failed at her two previous attempts at that mark.

Her delight at clearing the bar was clear for all to see and it might have made all the difference in the end. Typically, for such a competitor, O’Connor felt that she didn’t execute as well as she had hoped in all the events, that there is room for improvement.

At 25 years of age, the Louth woman should only just be entering her peak. All eyes will be on her between now and Los Angeles. There is a whole raft of superstars in this golden generation for Irish athletics, but Kate O’Connor confirmed in Birmingham at the weekend that she is the leading light. Class, indeed.