Johnny Sexton's final game of professional rugby ended in heartbreak after Ireland were narrowly edged out by New Zealand in the Rugby World Cup quarter-final.
New Zealand put in a brilliant defensive performance to prevail 28-24 over Ireland in a titanic clash at the Stade de France.
It was an eighth quarter-final loss for Ireland, ending their 17-match winning streak and sent Sexton into retirement without the glittering prize with which he had hoped to crown his career.
Leicester Fainga'anuku, Ardie Savea and Will Jordan scored the tries that sent the three-time champions into the semi-finals for the ninth time.
Andy Farrell's side never led at any stage of the game after going behind to an early penalty, but tries from Bundee Aki and Jamison Gibson-Park and a second-half penalty try helped keep them within touching distance for the duration of a tense encounter.
Trailing by four points as the game drew to a close, Ireland desperately pushed for a late twist and went through 37 phases of play in search of a try as the clock ticked over into the red, before they conceded a penalty to end their hopes.
The Irish captain was emotional in the aftermath of defeat but insists that his side did everything that they could.
"We couldn’t have done any more really," he said. "It was just fine margins, we felt like they sucker punched us on a few tries and we had to work really hard for our scores.
"That’s what champions do, they’re a great team and we knew that it was going to be a massive challenge. We fell just short unfortunately.
"It’s been amazing, this last six weeks has been a dream. This group, these fans, I’m just gutted we couldn’t do more.
"You’ve got to work hard for fairytale endings, we didn’t get it and that’s just life," he said on Virgin Media TV.
"We didn’t leave a stone unturned, we ticked every box and we trained the house down.
"I thought after a slow enough start we played pretty well tonight. A few decisions, a few bounces of the ball [went against us] and we one inch away from scoring a try.
"Fair play to the All Blacks, they’re a very good team and they’re well coached so fair play to them."
