Proud parents: Longford's Cian McPhillips has waited 10 years to become an overnight success

Cian McPhillips proud dad Paddy joked that his son has waited 10 years to become an overnight success as he reflected on his journey from a young enthusiastic runner to representing Ireland and Longford with aplomb.

The Ardagh athlete made his country, county and local area proud as he finished like a train in fourth place finish in the World Athletics Championships final on Saturday and he set a new Irish record of 1:42.15.

Hundreds of people gathered in Longford Athletics Centre where there was a carnival atmosphere to watch the big race live on a large screen as Cian came agonisingly close but narrowly missed out on the podium.

Paddy said he was confident Cian would be in contention in the closing stages as he is a very strong finisher, but he felt he probably left himself with a tiny little bit too much to do in the last 100 metres.

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The county Monaghan native stated for Cian to clock a time of 1 minute 42.15 seconds - over a second quicker than the national record he set in the semi-final on Thursday was 'crazy' and they are very proud.

Paddy said Cian, who looked very comfortable crossing the line in the final, is still young and he can go 'faster' as he targets future championships.

Referring to his comment that Cian 'waited 10 years to become an overnight success' he said he has made many sacrifices and it has been a long journey to get to this point.

Cian started in little athletics aged just eight and one evening he was bored and they brought him over to the track in Athlone for the juvenile training.

Cian did a little bit of jogging and juvenile coach Ray Doyle invited him to join a group who were doing 400-metres.

Paddy said his eager son went "off like a rocket" and he was expecting him to stop at the 100-metre mark but he kept going, passed 200-metres, then 300-metres and amazingly he was able to maintain the same speed.

Cian joined Longford AC as a youngster and he won a host of medals as he benefitted from the expert coaching of Ray and he has also enjoyed lots of success with UCD Athletic Club.

Paddy said there is a huge amount of work that goes into it behind the scenes that you never see.

"The miles upon miles on the canal up in Ballymahon, he wouldn't meet a sinner on it maybe.

"We used to park at Toome Bridge and he would go running then down towards Abbeyshrule.

"Then on other days he would go to Newcastle Woods and he would do a couple of laps and then head off down the canal and that was a regular routine."

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Paddy said Cian regularly does a long run on a Sunday.

"There are a couple of different things they do, they do the long, easy runs and on a Sunday he does 14 miles long easy.

"I know he said to me one time he would go beyond the airfield in Abbeyshrule and then turn and come back.

"And then they would have the sessions but they would have to be done on a track so for that he would either be in Mullingar or UCD or Santry and a couple of times he was in Tullamore.

"Sometimes it's a matter of just finding a track.

"Mullingar has a very good track now and he can use that whenever he wants to."

Paddy said when Cian is in UCD and he is on campus he is only just around the corner from the track and he has 'great access' to it whenever he needs it.

"He probably broke nearly every underage record at some stage.

"There are things called championship records, that is the fastest time that is run in an All Ireland final and he has broken those.

"But he might have broken a record at under-13 and under-14 level and it's quite probable that they have been broken by somebody else since.

"I know he took John Treacy's record at one stage, I think that was 3,000-metres at under-18 level and he took Ray Flynn's record at 1,500-metres at under-20 so they were probably the big ones."

Paddy said Cian also broke the Irish indoor under-20 record and the European under-20 record.

"That record was good but he actually ran much faster than the time when he ran in Abbotstown, himself and Mark English on the finishing line.

"That was 1.46:13, that would have been a phenomenal European record but it could not be ratified because you have to be drug tested on the day you run the race.

"And because it happened during Covid there was no drug test so it couldn't be ratified as a record but apparently it's the fifth fastest indoor 800 metre ever run by anybody."

Cian's mother Laura, a Mayo native, told Shannonside radio his performance at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo was just amazing.

"He is amazing and I know he will be initially disappointed because he had such a strong finish, but we didn't expect him to be here at this stage.

"I kind of thought he would get round the heats and like a true Irish mammy, once he gets around and he is not injured and healthy and safe, I'm happy."

Laura said Cian's understated manner and determination have always been there.

"Yeah, we are just in shock really, like the whole thing, you know, he is just unbelievable and that is the way he always grew up like that, a very underrated kind of thing where he doesn't make a big fuss."

PICTURES | Showing support for Longford's own Cian McPhillips