SPAIN achieved a significant breakthrough at Portmarnock yesterday when they beat the holders, Scotland, in a tense final to capture the 20th European Men's Amateur Team Championship. It marked the first victory by a Continental country in the event since it adopted truly international status in 1965.

The Spanish effort was characterised by outstanding competitive instincts in tight matches. It marked their semi-final victory over Ireland on Saturday, and was again in evidence when Juan Carlos Aguero won the 18th with a par for a priceless point against Michael Brooks, the Scottish champion.

From a Scottish standpoint, there was hitter irony that 20-year-old Steven Young gained a crushing, 7 and 6 win over the brilliant Sergio Garcia in the top singles. Young, who will be defending the Irish Youths title in Galway later this week and clearly earned a place on the Walker Cup team, was a stunning five-under-par for the holes played.

For a welcome change, the elements relented. High winds abated to a moderate breeze and there were even bursts of sunshine to complement the sparkling quality of the Spanish putting. The closest they had previously come to success at this level was when they lost to Ireland in the final at Chantilly in 1983.

Saturday's events effectively put an end to the Irish interest from a competitive standpoint. In truth, they were overwhelmed by Spain in the afternoon's singles, having taken the foursomes by 2-0. But the players had the satisfaction of redeeming themselves somewhat through a decisive, 5 1/2 to 1 1/2 win over Sweden.

It gave the Irish third place, which contrasted sharply with England's fortunes. Having failed to qualify for the top flight, the English suffered the indignity of completing the event with a 4-1 defeat by France, to finish in 10th position overall.

Early yesterday morning, the Royal and Ancient selection committee decided to defer the announcement of the Walker Cup side for a week. In what may be interpreted as bad news for the Irish aspirants, the selectors will now wait until after the Welsh Strokeplay Championship at Conwy next Saturday and Sunday before finalising their line-up.

The chronology of the situation is quite intriguing. Last Friday night, after Ireland had swept to a 6-1 quarter-final win over the Netherlands while Scotland had beaten Iceland, George Macgregor, chairman of the Royal and Ancient selectors, said that the team would be released next Tuesday.

There was a dramatic change of plan, however, when the selectors met again yesterday morning. And what happened in between, to cause a change of heart? Everything points towards Ireland's singles collapse against Spain.

It is not unreasonable to assume that the Irish representation will now be reduced from a possible four, as European champions, to a maximum of three, as the third-placed side. And the hope is that the selectorial mess created by England's poor form here could be resolved next weekend, possibly to English advantage.

The front-runners for Irish places in the 10-man line-up are Keith Nolan, Jody Fanagan and Richard Coughlan. Peter Lawrie could have become a fourth had he beaten 17-year-old Garcia, in the number two singles, instead of losing by 2 and 1.

Fanagan claimed that his problems in qualifying, in which he shot disappointing rounds of 85 and 81, stemmed from poor alignment caused by practising in a left to right wind. And judging from yesterday's form, it was clearly rectified during sessions with national coach Howard Bennett.

The Milltown player and Noel Fox were four under par when winning the top foursomes in the morning. And Fanagan went on to be two under for the holes played in an impressive 3 and 1 singles win over Mattias Eliasson.

By that stage, Ireland were firmly in command. Yet Nolan, who delivered the winning point, seemed to get little joy out of winning in the anchor position. I hold myself responsible for our defeat against Spain, given that I was one up with three to play," he said. Still, it was nice that we could pick ourselves up.

Garth McGimpsey, the 41-year-old veteran of the side, produced the best Irish singles record, with two-and-a-half points from three. It would have been even more gratifying, however, for Fanagan to take three points from two foursomes and one singles, given his problems earlier in the week.