Fionnuala Britton had to settle for sixth place at the European Cross Country Championships in Bulgaria but that disappointment was tempered by the fact that Ireland team claimed the bronze medal.

It was a British one-two in the individual standings, with Gemma Steel taking gold from Kate Avery after the duo broke away from the chasing pack just after the half-way stage.

In a thrilling finish, Steel pipped Avery on the line to win in a time of 28:27 with Sweden's Meraf Bahta taking the bronze medal.

Britton finished 32 seconds behind the winner but will have been hugely buoyed by the fact that her run helped Ireland to take the bronze medal in the group event.

Steel and Avery's individual success saw Great Britain take the gold medal with Spain taking silver.

Sara Treacy also played a major role in Ireland's success and was 12th in a time of 29:23, with Michelle Finn continuing her good season to finish in 23rd place.

Ann Marie McGlynn was 46th, one place ahead of Siobhan O'Doherty, while Laura Crowe finished 53rd.

On a treacherous course where conditions underfoot changed from frozen to muddy at every turn, the race got off to a quick start with Sonia Stolic of Sebia setting the early pace.

The Irish team had plenty of support with tricolours draped around the course and after the field settled down, Britton was lurking with intent in the leading pack as one of the pre-race favourites Sara Moreira hit the front.

A group of seven or eight runners pulled away from the rest of the chasing pack and Britton swapped the lead with Avery and Sophie Duarte as Moeira pulled up after 9:30 with the conditions clearly taking their toll.

Duarte took up the reigns and appeared to be in control at the midway stage, reacting to any move and challenge in front of her and stretching the pace as Britton seemed to drop off slightly.

Avery and Steel had a gameplan, however, and with a third of the race to go, they began to execute it, putting real distance between the rest of the field and running side-by-side as they turned up the pace.

It was quickly becoming apparent that the British duo would not be caught as Duarte and Britton started the final lap in third and fourth place, some 17 and 18 seconds off the leaders respectively, with Bahta lurking.

The Avery and Steel accord went out the window at this stage and both pressed hard in search of the gold but just when it appeared that Avery would take the honours, Steel found an extra burst of pace on the final straight to cross the line in first place.

"I wasn't happy," Britton told RTÉ Sport, after her sixth place. "I felt like I just never got going.

"But then we went back in and they said we'd got a medal by a point.

"So [I was able to] just forget about myself, and it's a team thing. A team medal is massive. We're delighted."

Ireland's men finished in sixth place overall, with Paul Pollock the team's highest-placed finisher in 23rd in a time of 33:55.

Brendan O'Neill was 29th (34:06), with Kevin Batt (34:07) two places further back.

Team captain Mick Clohisey was 44th, Conor Dooney 51st, and Mark Hanrahan 53rd.

Turkey took both gold and silver in the race, with Polat Kemboi Arıkan just edging fellow former Kenya runner Ali Kaya on the line (both 32:19).

Spain's Alemayehu Bezabeh was third in 32:30.

Kevin Dooney (Raheny Shamrock AC) was best placed of the Irish in the men’s U23 race. Dooney coming off a busy NCAA season finished in 18th place.

In the U23 women’s race Orna Murray (UCC/Ferrybank AC) was first across the line for Ireland in 40th place followed closely by Shona Heaslip (An Riocht AC) in 42nd.