Mark English got Irish hopes off to the brightest possible start at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Monday, winning his 800m heat with ease and laying down his medal intentions.The expectation that Cian McPhillips would then follow English into Wednesday’s semi-finals was dashed when he trailed home at the back of his heat to finish seventh, the Longford athlete appearing a pale shadow of himself after picking up a virus just under a week ago. His heat was won by Britain’s Max Burgin in 1:45.80.McPhillips was unable to speak about his race afterwards, such was his distress. His coach, Joe Ryan explained that McPhillips felt the onset of the illness last Wednesday, and although hopeful he may have recovered in time, it was evident going around the top bend that he was well of his best.English was out in the first of the four heats, the Donegal man needing a top-three finish to advance automatically to Wednesday’s semi-final. He didn’t take any chances, staying close to the front around the first lap, passed in a pedestrian 53.64, then cruising into the lead down the home straight, winning in 1:46.96.“I feel really good, it was just a matter of getting the job done today, and we move on to the semi-final on Wednesday,” said the 33-year-old.“Obviously I’ve the fastest time (in Europe this year), but it’s not a matter of that being a given to get anywhere. Everyone starts at zero, so I’ll just look to go to the semi-final and execute my race plan again, and hopefully it works out.“It didn’t matter whether I finished first, second, or third, just as long as I made it through. I do feel as good as I’ve ever felt, but I’d say a lot of people feel that way. Times, they don’t mean everything coming into the championships. So I’ll be excited to execute a new race plan again for the semi-final, and hopefully it works.”Cian McPhillips during his 800m heat. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho McPhillips looked reasonably okay in the first lap, before dropping back to seventh in 1:46,84, well off his Irish record of 1:42.15. The 24-year-old had also been rounding into excellent form, and there was no disguising his look of disappointment afterwards.“While he is on the pathway to recovery, it was just too soon for him to perform at his best,” said Ryan, his long-time coach from Mullingar.Those contrasting fortunes continued in the heats of the women’s 100m, where Ciara Neville finished fifth, aided by a notable tailwind. The top-12 fastest times from the three heats all progressed to the semi-finals on Monday evening, Neville ending up 10th overall with her time of 11.29 seconds.The Limerick woman joins the top-12 seeded runners in the semi-finals which get under way at 8.10pm, with Neville’s semi-final due to be run at 8.18pm.Lauren Roy just missed out on progression, finishing sixth in her heat in 11.32, for 15th overall. Somewhat controversially, Neville’s race was run with the stronger tailwind, (+3.2m/s), compared to Roy (+1.8m/s), raising question marks over why European Athletics opted to progress athletes on times, rather than positions.Jack Raftery made the most of his chance of progressing in the 400m, also based on the top-12 times, when he nailed second in his heat in 45.81 seconds, just outside his season best. The 25-year-old was ninth overall after the three heats were run, seeing him through to the semi-finals on Tuesday.