Ireland had started positively but were punished by two quick Vincent Clerc tries and, despite a spirited second-half fightback, suffered a 26-21 defeat.

Dempsey, 32, said he was pleased with the response of Ireland’s players after they had fallen behind as they put the RBS 6 Nations champions under real pressure.

“I've been to Paris before and we knew the kind of pace to expect and knew that we couldn't afford to give them a start,” Dempsey told Setanta Sports.

“I looked up at the clock and there was fifteen minutes gone and it was going reasonably okay but then we gave away two tries.

“The French tries originated from when we had the ball and resulted from our errors and our turnovers and, perhaps a lack of concentration at vital times.

“We got a bit down at that stage but picked ourselves up to half-time, regrouped, and played the good rugby we knew we were capable of doing in the second-half.”