European Youths' Team championship/Day Two: Golf can be cruel. Just ask Irish team captain Michael Burns as his six-man squad failed by a single shot to make the top flight in the European Youths' Team Championship at The Island yesterday.

With five out of six scores to count each day, France and Ireland finish tied on 750, but the Gallic visitors took the eighth and final spot in the top flight by virtue of their better non-counting scores over the two strokeplay qualifying rounds.

France had discarded scores of 77 and 79 over the two days as opposed to a pair of 80s by Ireland. The result is that France, not Ireland, will face leading qualifiers England in flight one this morning.

While the top eight sides will battle it out for the ultimate prize, Ireland's Youths have been left with the dubious consolation of scrapping with the up-and-coming nations Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland for the places from ninth to 14th.

England finished top of the pile on 723, seven shots clear of Spain and 12 clear of Scotland. And they can thank Londoner James Heath, who shaved a shot off the day-old course record with a spectacular, five-under-par 66, a mark matched later in the afternoon by the exuberant 18-year-old Swede Oskar Henningsson, a semi-finalist in the West of Ireland championship at Easter.

Ninth-placed Ireland and 10th-ranked Finland received byes and will not reappear at the windswept Donabate links until tomorrow.

It is just as well, because the six team members were utterly gutted after yesterday's reverse.

"There were 750 shots played out there and it came down to one shot in the end," said team captain Burns. "I said the night before it started that this could come down to non-counting cards and told the lads to keep it to a minimum. One shot in the two days would have carried us through, but it was the same for France.

"Each guy had individual problems that we didn't think we had coming in here. But it proves that on a course as good as The Island, any weaknesses will be found out."

On a day of gusting winds, the Curragh's Paul O'Hanlon was the top Irish performer yesterday as he played the back nine in one over par for a 74.And while Holywood's Harry Diamond holed a 40-footer at the 18th for a 77 and Tramore's Clancy Bowe played his last five holes in one under par for a 76, the die was already cast.FLIGHT ONE

723 - England (L Dodd 76 77, J Heath 73 66, J Moul 70 74, M Richardson 73 73, M Skelton 76 72, P Waring 69 82).

730 - Spain (P Bech 75 73, R Cabrera 74 71, A Canizares 73 75, J Garcia 76 73, P Martin 73 75, A Quiros 72 71).

735 - Scotland (W Booth 78 72, S Jamieson 77 76, K McAlpine 71 79, G Murray 71 74, R Ramsay 76 70, L Saltman 70 78).

735 - Germany (F Fritsch 67 71, A Hurter 81 74, M Kaymer 73 76, M Kramer 71 79, N Meitinger 76 70, P Niederdrenk 78 80).

740 - Sweden (J Blixt 74 73, O Floren 73 77, O Henningsson 73 66, R Karlberg 76 82, N Lemke 72 79, D Palm 75 78).

743 - Wales (B Briscoe 77 84, C Cousins 83 78, R Davies 69 71, T Hayward 78 75, M Laskey 70 72, L Matthews 78 75).

745 - Denmark (P Baunsøe 71 83, C Christiansen 74 78, M Haastrup 72 71, P Jacobsen 75 79, L J Johanson 78 81, P Meldgaard 71 73).

750 - France (B Coathalem 77 76, J Duclos-Grenet 75 76, J Fourquet 73 77, J Guerrier 74 74, J Millet 72 78, A Snobeck 75 79).

FLIGHT TWO

750 - IRELAND (Clancy Bowe 78 76, Stephen Crowe 70 75, Harry Diamond 80* 77, Paul O'Hanlon 76 74, Cathal O'Malley 75 76, Niall Turner 73 80*). 764 - Finland. 768 - Belgium. 769 - Netherlands. 769 - Switzerland. 774 - Italy.

FLIGHT THREE

775 - Iceland. 780 - Portugal. 799 - Czech Republic.

MATCHPLAY DRAW

Flight One (8 a.m.): Spain v Denmark, Scotland v Wales, Germany v Sweden, England v France.