Ireland bowed out of the European Badminton Mixed Team Championships with defeat against top seeds Denmark, but went down fighting in Belgium.
A win for Chloe Magee in the women's singles proved the highlight of the Irish performance.
From the start, the Irish were determined not to be overawed, with Chloe Magee and Sam Magee only losing to Joachim Fisher Nielson and Christina Pederson 18-21, 13-21 in the mixed doubles.
Next up were the men's singles, where Scott Evans, who has been nursing an ankle injury, got Irish hearts racing when he won the opening set 21-17 against world number two Jan Jorgensen.
With every point hard fought, Evans went 11-6 up in the second game before his lack of match fitness began to tell. Jorgensen won the set 21-17 and then took the third set 21-12 after almost an hour of play.
Chloe Magee then faced Line Kjaersfeldt, ranked just two places above her in the women's singles. From the start, Magee had the advantage and she won the opening set 21-17.
She had chances in the second to close out the match, but the Dane fought back to edge it at 23-21. In the third, there was no stopping Magee who won comfortably at 21-11, nailing down an impressive victory.
The men's doubles was next, with Sam Magee and Josh Magee playing a fast and furious opening game against Anders Skaarup Rasmussen and Kim Astrup Sorensen, only losing 21-17 against the far more experienced pair. The Danes then won the next game 21-16 and with it the match.
