Ireland finally got through 80 minutes of play at home, and in the process firmly put behind them the narrow loss away against France and the abandoned Wales home fixture.

We brought you live tweets from the game as it happened. The final scoreline amounted to a resounding victory for Ireland, although in fairness to the Italians, doesn’t reflect the ferocity with which they fought.

Approaching half time, Italy threatened with repeated attacks right up at the Irish try line. Their attacking form continued in the second half, with much of the play taking place deep in the Irish half.

The visitors’ unrelenting efforts were in vain, however, and Ireland who were always the favourites capitalised on every opportunity.

Some poor discipline from Ireland, a reflection perhaps of Italy’s determination, saw yellow cards for Ailis Egan and Claire Molloy either side of half-time.

View a slideshow of images from last night’s game.

Lock Marie Louise Reilly made a break in the fifth minute of play to score the first try of the night. Niamh Kavanagh followed up in the 14th minute to secure Ireland’s second try. In the 29th minute, veteran Joy Neville grabbed the third try after a poor Italian clearance. With all of these tries converted by the unerring Niamh Briggs, the score was 21-0 to Ireland after 30 minutes.

A try from Italy’s Cristina Molic made it 21-7 at half time. Michela Tondinelli’s surprise drop goal closed the gap further 15 minutes after the re-start.

It wasn’t enough for the Italians, however, as Ireland countered Italy’s attacking play.

Echoing her blistering run in the abandoned game against Wales, Alison Miller made a spectacular 50-metre run toward before being tapped and taken down by Italian hooker Sara Zanon just short of the visitors’ try line. Scrum half Amy Davis collected and recovered, however, and secured the try to make it 26-10 in the 62nd minute.

Kavanagh made her presence felt for a second time, with an impressive second try in the 72nd minute, but Briggs miss-kicked and for the first time in the tournament was unable to convert. Just before the final whistle, replacement and one of the new faces on the Ireland squad Jennifer Murphy added the final try in injury-time with a darting run in under the posts against a tiring Italian defence.

Standout players included:

Try scorers, Marie Louise Reilly, who opened the scoring for Ireland, Niamh Kavanagh, with tries plural, Amy Davis, whose reflexes meant her name being added to the score sheet, and Jennifer Murphy, another fresh face who has made their presence immediately felt; Alison Miller, true to form with a fantastic run in the second half; Niamh Briggs, with near-flawless kicking.

More:

• IRFU match report
• ScrumQueens
• Irish Examiner
• RTÉ
• The Irish Times
• The Score
• Demotix

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