Ireland’s women unfortunately filled the role of sacrificial lambs on a big night for American hero Carli Lloyd.
The newly-crowned Fifa World Player of the Year marked her award with a first-half hat-trick as Sue Ronan’s side crashed to a 5-0 defeat in San Diego in front of a large crowd in excess of 23,000.
Ireland were always going to up against it facing the reigning world champions, but would have hoped they could hold out for a little bit longer.
The manner of the opener was disappointing in itself, coming inside six minutes when Ireland were caught napping at a quick throw-in that gave Lloyd plenty of space to strike, and she was on hand to double the lead with a header from close range a quarter of an hour later.
Things got worse for Ireland when a poor backpass allowed Lloyd, who took he international tally to 19 goals in her last 14 matches, to pounce and fire the ball past Emma Byrne in the Irish goal.
Captain Alex Morgan made it four on the stroke of half-time, but Ireland were much improved after the break, with the US made to wait until the 83rd minute before debutant Mallory Pugh scored the hosts’ fifth.
The result maintained the Americans’ 100 per cent record in the fixture, but Ireland will look to take something from their trip Stateside when they take on the USA Under-23 side on Monday.
