Ireland crush England

Ireland resurrected their RBS 6 Nations Championship title hopes with a crushing record 43-13 victory over sorry England at Croke Park.

Tries from Girvan Dempsey and David Wallace helped them to a 23-3 interval lead and despite David Strettle crossing early in the second half, it was all one-way traffic.

Shane Horgan then collected a crossfield kick from Ronan O'Gara in the 65th minute to signal the end of the match as a meaningful contest and Isaac Boss ran in an intercept try to complete the rout.

O'Gara did not miss a kick all evening, finishing with 21 points, as Ireland celebrated their first victory at Croke Park with their highest ever win over England.

The first half was tale of woe for sorry England who, save for an early penalty from Wilkinson and run by Andy Farrell, made no headway.

They were forced to fight a desperate rearguard action and, when Danny Grewcock was sin-binned for impeding Peter Stringer in the 29th minute, Ireland pounced.

Dempsey was the first to cross, the grateful benefactor of instinctive work from Gordon D'Arcy and Brian O'Driscoll, and then Wallace burrowed his way over from close range.

Apart from an early kick from O'Gara, the opening of the second half belonged to England, who were rewarded when debutant David Strettle rode tackles from Dempsey and Gordon D'Arcy to cross.

Wilkinson's boot reduced the deficit further but O'Gara added his fifth penalty and then set up Ireland's third try for Shane Horgan, who collected a crossfield kick and touched down.

Boss then delivered the final blow, running in an intercept try amid crowd chants of "easy, easy", and his fellow substitute Paddy Wallace converted.