Captain William Porterfield admitted that his decision to bat first in against England played a role in Ireland's heavy one-day international defeat in Bristol.
Porterfield put his side in to bat after winning the toss at the Brightside Ground but after an opening stand of 40 inside six overs from Paul Stirling and Ed Joyce, Ireland collapsed to post a meagre total of 126.
The hosts had little difficulty reaching their target, with Alex Hales firing 55 off just 39 balls as England cruised to a seven-wicket triumph.
Asked if he would make the same decision to bat again, Porterfield told RTÉ Sport: "Potentially we may have had a bowl.
"It makes it a lot easier for them to knock them off when they are chasing 120. We knew it was going to do a little bit but it was the spin that did the damage and not the seamers.
"It's obviously very disappointing, especially going on the front foot after winning the toss and looking to have a bat.
"We started off well in the first five or six overs, how the lads played, but once we lost those two we never really got a partnership going.
"We wouldn't really have envisaged the spin doing the damage there but once we lost a couple of wickets we fell away pretty easily. That's something we're going to have to put right come Sunday."
Former team-mate Eoin Morgan, now captaining England, agreed that being asked to field first wound up working to his side's advantage.
"Losing the toss probably wasn't a bad thing as we got to see how Ireland went. It's very difficult to set a total when you don't know how the wicket is going to play."
Ireland must now pick themselves up for the second match of the series at Lord's, the home of the cricket, on Sunday.
"We have to put this game to bed," Porterfield said. "We created chances with the ball and that's the only way you're going to restrict teams, but you also have to get the runs on the board.
"On Sunday we'll have to be a bit better with that and if can do that and then replicate the effort and commitment with the ball for 50 overs we won't be far away."
One bright spot in the Irish performance came in the bowling of young seamer Peter Chase, who returned figures of three for 44 and Porterfield acknowledged the Dubliner's effort.
"Chaser, as much as you don't want to do it in a losing cause, how he went out there with the ball in his seven or eight overs and picked up the three-for, that's a great effort from him."
The 23-year-old bowler added: "Obviously I'm pretty happy with how I bowled. Nice to get a few wickets, I think it's my career best so far in an Ireland shirt.
"But it's a disappointing day and we're just going to have to leave that here and go down to Lord's and put in a good performance down there.
"It's a tough one. Everyone was feeling good in the camp and looking forward to today, so I think it's just one of those days when it didn't happen for us."
