She was following in the footsteps of Mark English who finished third in the 800 metres.

It is Mageean's first medal since moving to the UK to join the professional New Balance team.

She hopes it is the first of many.

"It gives me great confidence going forward...I'm delighted to bring this medal to Ireland, delighted to bring it back to Portaferry," Mageean said after the race.

"I'm also delighted to bring it back to team New Balance Manchester because it was a huge move for me and it's really paying off."

Congratulations @ciaramageean on a wonderful 1500m 🥉 tonight in #glasgow2019athletics @EuroAthletics pic.twitter.com/ihv8JhVdCJ

— TeamNBMCR (@TeamNBMCR) March 3, 2019

Mageean talked about the positive mindset that she had as she stepped out on the track last night.

"I set foot on the track today and I said: 'I'm gonna run my best race, I'm going to lay it all out there and I don't know if it's going to mean a medal or not but I'm going to walk off the track with my head held high'.

"That's all any athlete can do. I've come off and I've beaten myself up after too many championships. I'm going to enjoy my athletics.

I'm going to walk out there with a smile on my face."

While the two-time European medalist is pleased with her performace, she admitted that she is "a little bit annoyed that it's not silver".

"That's the athlete and the competitor in me but if you had have said to me 'you can win a medal and you can take any medal now' a couple of months ago, I would have said 'I'll have that'.

"I'm just glad to have been able to come out and actually put my form out there on the track because I know I've been in good shape and I know I'm training well.

"So being able to bring that out on the track means an awful lot."

Bronze on the double for Ireland as Ciara Mageean comes third in the 1500 metres at the European Indoor Athletic Championships #RTEsport pic.twitter.com/GUrumcoXzH

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 3, 2019

Speaking to RTÉ, the Co Down athlete said she hopes that the young Irish team can look to the two bronze medals that were won in Glasgow and see that Ireland can be up there with the best.

Looking ahead to the World Championships and the Tokyo Olympics she said that she is taking her confidence from the training that she is doing rather than from medals.

President Michael D Higgins was among those to congratulate Mageean on her success.

President Higgins said: "Her achievement crowns a remarkable day for Irish athletics and Irish sport."