The two teams finished last Monday's first meeting with a similar scoreline but the tie had to be settled this time and it was Declan Sheridan's side who came up just short.
Goalkeeper Yannick Germannaud proved to the hero for the visitors as he saved spot kicks from Craig Short and David Long to seal a 4-2 shoot-out win and send his team through to the European finals.
Sheridan, though, had every reason to be proud of his team over the course of the two games as they pushed a very skilled outfit all the way and played some terrific football.
The game could hardly have started better for the hosts as captain Chris Kenny headed in the opening goal on three minutes following good work by Long.
The French hit back on 25 minutes when Antoine Goulard managed to notch the ball past goalkeeper Aidan Brown, but that did not deter the Irish who continued to battle for the upper hand.
A positive reaction allowed Sheridan's men to push their opponents onto the back foot on numerous occasions and force the game into extra-time, but nobody could seize advantage during that period.
So it all came down to penalties. Brown did pull off a fine save to deny Cedric Rossignol but the French were clinical with their remaining kicks and that made all the difference - aligned with Germannud's heroics.
Irish Defence Forces: Brown; Fox, Long, Delaney, Kenny, Short (Dempsey h-t), Stack, Wall, Dillon (Deegan 63), Finlay (Walsh h-t), Friel.
France Armed Forces: Germmanud; Trinite, Rossignol, Goulard, Dupuis, Pouverean (Kaimba h-t), Coulomb, Moatti (Gallo 63), Pannier, Jougounoux (Asbabou 105), Laplace Palette.