Northern Ireland’s first ever major tournament ended in a 5-0 defeat to a dominant England at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton.
Already consigned to going home, Kenny Shiels’ girls had been hoping to bid farewell to Euro 2022 on a positive note in their final group game.
But stone cold reality trumped romance as England ran riot with five goals, four of them coming in a frantic 15 minute period either side of the break.
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The Lionesses were 2-0 ahead at half-time thanks to two goals in four minutes from Fran Kirby and Beth Mead’s fifth goal of the Euros in the 41st and 45th minutes.
Manchester United’s Alessia Russo then added a quickfire double at the start of the second half to take her international tally to a prolific seven goals in 10 games.
And the hosts, now strong 3/1 favourites to win the tournament on home soil, added to their tally in the 76th minute thanks to a Kelsie Burrows own goal.
A frustrating night in front of a bumper 30,785 crowd at St Mary’s, but plenty of pride too and a moment to reflect on how far this side has come in Shiels’ three year tenure.
Northern Ireland captain Marissa Callaghan said: “I think the big legacy for us is that we have to dream big and believe we can come and compete in these major tournaments.
“This is a far cry from four or five years ago. We never thought we would make it into such a big tournament but we did and at times we played really well against the top sides.
“We have to keep pushing on and keep believing that we can go and challenge the top sides.
"It's hard to compete (against England) but I'm just so, so proud of the girls. Every single player left everything out on the pitch."
England goalscorer Kirby said: “It’s a massive credit to them (Northern Ireland) for getting here and giving an amazing account of themselves, not just them but their fans as well. They were incredible.”
Rebecca Holloway denied Georgia Stanway an opener with a crucial block before Kirby opened the scoring with a curler after Lauren Hemp’s initial effort was blocked.
It was 2-0 four minutes later when the visitors failed to clear a Hemp cross and Mead’s low shot found the bottom corner via a deflection off Rachel Furness.
A third came three minutes after the restart when Russo, a half-time replacement for Ellen White, rose to cushion a superb header past Burns from a Mead cross.
And the Manchester United striker made it 4-0 in the 53rd minute when she pirouetted away from Julie Nelson to flash a rising shot past Burns.
It was five in the 76th minute when the unfortunate Burrows threw out a leg to intercept Mead’s teasing cross but ended up diverting the ball over Burns’ head.
Russo should have completed her hat-trick late on, but the substitute blazed over from six yards out after being teed up by the impressive Mead.
While Northern Ireland finished the group stage at the bottom of the pool, England march onto the quarter-finals where they’ll meet either Spain or Denmark.
Austria finished runners-up and also progressed to the last-eight thanks to a 1-0 win over Norway.
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