Commonwealth Games: Northern Ireland's Kevin Seaward fourth in Gold Coast marathon

Kevin Seaward on his way to an excellent fourth place in the men's marathon on the Gold Coast

Kevin Seaward brought NI's participation in the Commonwealth Games to an end with an impressive fourth-place finish in the marathon.

The Belfast athlete clocked a superb 2:19:54 in hot conditions in a race won by Australia's Michael Shelley

"I'm absolutely over the moon - I set out with a target of finishing in the top 10," said Seaward.

Northern Ireland finished the Games with 12 medals, equalling the haul in Glasgow four years ago.

Seaward, 33, made up ground in the closing stages to come in just 18 seconds off the bronze claimed by Scotland's Robbie Simpson.

"I kind of predicted that I'd probably need to run around 2:20 for a top 10 so I just locked into a rhythm early on and just kept working through," he added.

"Probably with about a kilometre to go, somebody said 'there's a medal there'.

"I had no idea, I just thought they were just being really nice trying to tee me up with a bit of motivation. Robbie worked hard to get himself in that position and he did really well."

Gymnast Rhys McClenaghan won Northern Ireland's only gold medal while there were seven silvers and four bronze medals.

It represents Northern Ireland's best medal tally in a Commonwealth Games held outside the United Kingdom.