Ireland were beaten but far from disgraced in their first round match in the European Ladies Team golf championships over the Saint-Germain course in Paris yesterday. It was always going to be tough when, as eighth qualifiers, they came up against top seeds France - but for a time the match hung in the balance.

And captain Jane Allen had every reason to be pleased with the performances of her players. "They really fought hard and I felt some of them were a little unlucky," said Allen. The real difference between the two sides was the ability of the French to hit their approach shots with deadly accuracy.

Regularly the French were pitching to within comfortable putting distance, whereas the Irish struggled in that department. In both foursomes matches Ireland were level at the turn but then the French pulled away to win.

Ulster champion Alison Coffey and Milltown's Suzanne O'Brien went down 2 and 1 to Maitena Alsuguren, while Irish title holder Claire Coughlan and Eileen Rose Power lost on the 18th to Karine Icher and Stephanie Arricau.

Coughlan, at 19 the baby of the Irish side, performed well against British Open Champion Marine Monnet in the singles and even a 3 & 2 scoreline against her seemed unjust.

The Cork teenager had the distinction of an eagle three at the ninth when she holed a 20 yard pitch. But her downfall came on the short llth where she missed the green and played a bad chip at the 12th to go two down.

O'Brien was always up against it in her match against Virginie Auffret and lost on the 16th. Once France had won these top two singles and had the required four points in the bag, they conceeded the remaining three to give Ireland a respectable 3-4 loss.

However, Oonagh Purfield, put up a great fight against last year's British runner-up Gwladys Nocera and was two under par and two up after 10. But by the 16th she had fallen behind, as had Alison Coffey and Eileen Rose Power.