The Ireland Men's Sevens team won their first medal as a core team on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, following a thrilling final day at the HSBC France Sevens in Toulouse.
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Ireland knocked out hosts France with a 24-7 win to reach their first ever Cup final at this level, before a strong Fiji team prevailed 29-17 in the Stade Ernest Wallon decider.
Two tries from Terry Kennedy, who topped the DHL Impact Player rankings, and efforts from Mark Roche Andrew Smith saw James Topping's men silence the home crowd in what turned out to be a convincing semi-final victory.
Jordan Conroy and Kennedy both touched down to give Ireland a brief 12-7 lead in the final, but Fiji showed their class to put themselves out of sight before Tullamore man Conroy claimed a late consolation try.
It was still a hugely successful weekend for the IRFU Sevens Programmes, with the Men's side beating the two top-ranked teams in the world - South Africa (for the first time) and Argentina - on the way to winning a historic silver.
The Ireland Women, who were silver and bronze medal winners in recent legs, wrapped up their World Series campaign with a best ever season finish of fourth with Fiji just pipping them to third overall.
Topping's charges move on to the HSBC London Sevens next weekend, returning to Twickenham Stadium where they enjoyed a famous breakthrough back in 2018 when winning bronze as an invitational team.
Mark Roche kicked off the semi-final amid a partisan atmosphere, with Ireland immediately making it a real scrap for possession and forcing a knock-on as 'La Marseillaise' rang out around the stadium.
It was the Irish fans in full voice when Kennedy used a clever dummy - and Tom Roche's decoy run - to scamper back out to the left from the edge of the French 22 and crash over in the corner despite Joachim Trouabal's last-ditch tackle.
Topping's side pushed into a 12-0 lead with Conroy threatening from a Hugo Lennox kick through. Mark Roche pounced on the loose ball, ahead of Aaron Grandidier, to roll over the line and score. He also added a classy conversion.
Nisie Huyard pulled back a try with a fine run from inside his own half, but les Bleus had a frustrating start to the second period when a deliberate knock-on saw Jonathan Laugel sin-binned.
Ireland duly profited from the extra man, Smith's impressive cut line opening up the French defence and at the ensuing ruck, Harry McNulty's big clear-out gave Billy Dardis the chance to put Kennedy over from close range.
Now 17-7 behind, France were struggling to get out of their own half and even when Esteban Capilla managed to gain ground, Smith's tackle dislodged the ball and Ireland countered brilliantly for their fourth try with two minutes to go.
Kennedy threaded a cross-field kick through for Conroy to chase, Bryan Mollen followed up to steal the ball after Jordan Sepho was tackled and Dardis released the onrushing Smith for a one-handed diving finish beside the posts.
The conversion dispatched by Dardis, McNulty's hard graft at the breakdown and also the resulting lineout sealed the result as Ireland set up an intriguing final against Fiji, the winners of last month's tournament in Singapore.
21-12 winners when the sides last met during the pool stages in Singapore, Ireland fell behind as Fiji got off to a flying start. Waisea Nacuqu used an early turnover penalty to send captain Tevita Daugunu over from the right wing.
A knock on prevented Tom Roche from turning a McNulty-led breakout into a possible try, but good work at a scrum from the elder Roche brother, Mark, and then McNulty at the breakdown saw Fiji turned over twice.
Kennedy used the second steal in the fourth minute to put Conroy over in the left corner from close range, with Mark Roche landing a pinpoint levelling conversion.
Another solid defensive set from Ireland forced a Fijian spill near halfway, Kennedy countering with a well-weighted kick through. With Nacuqu dithering on it in the 22, the St. Mary's College clubman swept in to score for a sudden 12-7 advantage.
The Fijians were ruthless in capitalising on Irish errors, though, and a knock-on and the resulting scrum provided the platform for Napolioni Bolaca to spring through from halfway to make it 14-12 at the interval.
Ben Gollings' charges went up a gear on the restart, stretching the Irish defence for big Josua Vakurunabili to dive over. Elia Canakaivata made it a quick one-two blow, despite Ireland's protests that there had been a knock-on in the build-up.
Suddenly it was a double-scores deficit at 24-12 with only three-and-a-half minutes left. Conroy had a great surge up to the Fijian 10-metre line, but Jack Kelly unfortunately put too much into a subsequent pass and it went into touch.
Kaminieli Rasaku started and finished a swarming attack for Fiji's fifth try, but Ireland battled on and made sure to have the final say, Smith and Chay Mullins both impressing late on as Conroy finished smartly in the right corner.
On foot of their consistency across the weekend, captain Dardis and his team-mates picked up 19 ranking points and moved up one place to fourth in the World Series standings ahead of the penultimate leg in London.
Kennedy tallied up seven tries as the second top try scorer in Toulouse, just behind Argentina's Marcos Moneta. The in-form Dubliner is top of the series' scoring charts for the season with 39 tries.
Ireland duly profited from the extra man, Smith's impressive cut line opening up the French defence and at the ensuing ruck, Harry McNulty's big clear-out gave Billy Dardis the chance to put Kennedy over from close range.
Now 17-7 behind, France were struggling to get out of their own half and even when Esteban Capilla managed to gain ground, Smith's tackle dislodged the ball and Ireland countered brilliantly for their fourth try with two minutes to go.
Kennedy threaded a cross-field kick through for Conroy to chase, Bryan Mollen followed up to steal the ball after Jordan Sepho was tackled and Dardis released the onrushing Smith for a one-handed diving finish beside the posts.
The conversion dispatched by Dardis, McNulty's hard graft at the breakdown and also the resulting lineout sealed the result as Ireland set up an intriguing final against Fiji, the winners of last month's tournament in Singapore.
21-12 winners when the sides last met during the pool stages in Singapore, Ireland fell behind as Fiji got off to a flying start. Waisea Nacuqu used an early turnover penalty to send captain Tevita Daugunu over from the right wing.
A knock on prevented Tom Roche from turning a McNulty-led breakout into a possible try, but good work at a scrum from the elder Roche brother, Mark, and then McNulty at the breakdown saw Fiji turned over twice.
Kennedy used the second steal in the fourth minute to put Conroy over in the left corner from close range, with Mark Roche landing a pinpoint levelling conversion.
Another solid defensive set from Ireland forced a Fijian spill near halfway, Kennedy countering with a well-weighted kick through. With Nacuqu dithering on it in the 22, the St. Mary's College clubman swept in to score for a sudden 12-7 advantage.
The Fijians were ruthless in capitalising on Irish errors, though, and a knock-on and the resulting scrum provided the platform for Napolioni Bolaca to spring through from halfway to make it 14-12 at the interval.
Ben Gollings' charges went up a gear on the restart, stretching the Irish defence for big Josua Vakurunabili to dive over. Elia Canakaivata made it a quick one-two blow, despite Ireland's protests that there had been a knock-on in the build-up.
Suddenly it was a double-scores deficit at 24-12 with only three-and-a-half minutes left. Conroy had a great surge up to the Fijian 10-metre line, but Jack Kelly unfortunately put too much into a subsequent pass and it went into touch.
Kaminieli Rasaku started and finished a swarming attack for Fiji's fifth try, but Ireland battled on and made sure to have the final say, Smith and Chay Mullins both impressing late on as Conroy finished smartly in the right corner.
On foot of their consistency across the weekend, captain Dardis and his team-mates picked up 19 ranking points and moved up one place to fourth in the World Series standings ahead of the penultimate leg in London.
Kennedy tallied up seven tries as the second top try scorer in Toulouse, just behind Argentina's Marcos Moneta. The in-form Dubliner is top of the series' scoring charts for the season with 39 tries.