Ireland's Sonia O'Sullivan had to settle for her second silver medal of the European Championships when she was pipped by Spain's Marta Dominguez in Saturday's 5,000 metres final.

The Irishwoman looked set to successfully defend her title when she took the lead with 150 metres to go after a slow and tactical race.

However, the Spaniard battled back to pass the tiring O'Sullivan with less than five metres left.

Dominguez took gold in 15:14.76 just ahead of O'Sullivan (15:14.85) and Russia's Yelena Zadorozhnaya (15:15.22).

Britain's Jo Pavey (15:18.70) was fifth just behind world champion Olga Yegorova (15:16.65) who was fourth.

A disappointed O'Sullivan said afterwards that she had hit the front "too early".

"I wish I could get out and run that race again," said the Irishwoman.

"I panicked a bit and it cost me the race. I should have waited a bit longer," she added.

O'Sullivan took silver behind runaway winner Paula Radcliffe in the 10,000 metres in Munich.

The Irishwoman was aiming to win her fourth European Championship gold.

Meanwhile, Ireland's men's 4x400m quartet earned a place in Sunday's final in Munich.

Led off by Belfast man Paul McKee, the Irish squad set a new national record of 3:03.73 to be the seventh fastest qualifiers for the final.

The previous Irish record of 3:04.26 was set at last year's World Championships in Edmonton.

McKee's team-mates were Robert Daly, Antoine Burke and David McCarthy.