Dublin, Aug 19 : When Ireland were reduced to 59/6 in the T20I series opener against India, it looked like they would be skittled out for a score below 100. But pacer Barry McCarthy had other ideas, as he stood tall against the Indian bowlers by sharing a 57-run stand with Curtis Campher (39). The right-arm pacer ended the Irish innings by raising his maiden T20I fifty and was unbeaten at 51 off just 33 deliveries. He hit four fours and as many sixes to propel the hosts to a decent 139/7. After India won by two runs via the DLS method, McCarthy lauded the fighting spirit of his side despite being on the losing side. 'To get ourselves so close to a win after our position 10 overs in is a credit to our spirit. We fought the whole way to the end and what if it could have been another wicket in those last two balls, and it would have been a huge day in Irish cricket. We held up our heads very high and put up a real fight in front of everyone,' he said in the post-match press conference. McCarthy showed signs of his stroke play by pulling pacer Prasidh Krishna for a boundary in the 15th over, and then he crunched two more boundaries as well as a six off him in the 17th over. In the final over, he took on Arshdeep Singh and hit the left-arm pacer for four and two sixes, one of which came off a no-ball, to give the desired late impetus to the innings. 'I knew I had a bit more responsibility coming in at 10-11 overs into the game. There was an opportunity to get a score, and I played positively, and we got up to a decent total. But Curtis' innings as well was also a standout and huge credit to him too for getting to 140 from where we were. If we could have got a bit more runs on the board, we could have fought more against these teams,' he added. Ireland will have a chance to square the three-game series when they take on India in the second T20I at Malahide on Sunday, and McCarthy has vowed that the hosts won't step away from their aggressive play in a bid to bounce back in the series. 'With conditions favourable and conducive for seam bowling, they bowled pretty well. You have to take the aggressive option against these teams, and while it didn't come off upfront in the match, we will continue to play the aggressive brand of cricket.' 'One or two deliveries didn't go our way in the game and had a couple of misses too. But that's the nature of T20 cricket and we will continue to play in that way. We believe we can put on a huge score against these guys and really have a competitive game of cricket,' he concluded. /IANS