Ireland's chances of qualifying for next year's European Basketball finals in Sweden were left dangling by a thread following tonight's 80-71 defeat to Germany in Tallaght.
Ireland were on the back foot early on as the world number three ranked Germans applied strong pressure throughout the court.
Germany led 40-30 at half time and 58-49 at the end of the third quarter.
The home side did manage to pull the game back to a four point contest late on but could not find the necessary fluency in their game to bridge that gap.
Cal Bowdler led the Irish scoring with 26 points but despite his gallant efforts Ireland could never quite get in arms length of their superior opponents.
Ireland must win their four remaining games in their semi-final round to qualify for the finals. They play away to Croatia on Saturday.