THE Republic of Ireland’s tour of the USA came to an end with a 1-0 defeat to the hosts in St Louis, Missouri in the early hours of Wednesday morning Irish time, with Alana Cook scoring the winner in the last minute of the first half.

This follows last Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the reigning world champions, with Emily Fox and Lindsey Horan getting the goals.

The entire focus of this tour was a workout for the squad, with less than 100 days to go until the FIFA Women’s World Cup gets underway in Australia and New Zealand.

This is why Ireland lined out in their tried and tested 4-5-1 formation for both games, to solidify their plans before making their debut at a major tournament. There was nothing defensive about how they played in St Louis as they attacked and caused a number of problems for the USA.

With less than two minutes on the clock, Katie McCabe found space on the left wing and she picked out Lucy Quinn. The forward couldn’t keep her shot down and the ball went out of play.

The US then pushed up and Louise Quinn had to usher the ball out for a corner. This went in and Becky Sauerbrunn smacked it off the crossbar. Ireland responded with Denise O’Sullivan releasing Kyra Carusa, and this break ended with McCabe shooting straight into the hands of the USA goalkeeper, Casey Murphy.

It was all going according to plan until Courtney Brosnan came off her line and a ball from Cook floated over the goalkeeper and in, in the 44th minute.

A late chance to equalise fell to Carusa after she collected a through ball from O’Sullivan but she hit the side netting inside the area.

This came during a late flurry of chances for Ireland, a period that ended with Louise Quinn heading a McCabe corner wide at the back post.

Ireland have two more friendlies to play before the World Cup; against Zambia and France in June.

USA: Casey Murphy; Ashley Sanchez, Sofia Huerta, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara, Linsey Horan, Sophia Smith, Alex Morgan, Alana Cook, Andi Sullivan, Alyssa Thompson.

Subs: Tierna Davidson for Sauerbrunn (28), Trinity Rodman for Smith (h-t), Casey Krueger for O’Hara (h-t), Ashley Hatch for Morgan (h-t), Julie Ertz for Sullivan (h-t), Kristie Mewis for Horan (60).

IRELAND: Courtney Brosnan; Louise Quinn, Megan Connolly, Diane Caldwell, Ruesha Littlejohn, Katie McCabe, Heather Payne, Lucy Quinn, Denise O'Sullivan, Kyra Carusa, Marissa Sheva.

Subs: Hayley Nolan for Caldwell (58), Ciara Grant for Ruesha Littlejohn (58), Aine O’Gorman for Sheva (69), Roma McLaughlin for Lucy Quinn (69), Tara O’Hanlon for Payne (84), Amber Barrett for Carusa (84).

Referee: Crystal Sobers