A year that began with back-to-back defeats, ends with an eighth consecutive win.

This afternoon's 53-7 victory against Argentina isn't one that will be remembered forever, but that's not to say it was a forgettable performance.

There was no post-New Zealand hangover, and while Andy Farrell's side never reached that same level of performance, they professionally managed the challenge posed by an Argentina team who looked jaded after four months living out of suitcases.

That attacking intent we have become used to seeing was once again evident, their plans not disrupted by pre-match injuries to both Iain Henderson and Jack Conan, which saw Tadhg Beirne and Peter O'Mahony drafted into the starting team.

A poor start to the game proved to be no more than a wobble, as Ireland ran in seven tries via their forwards, with Josh van der Flier scoring twice along with Andrew Porter, Caelan Doris, Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy and Beirne.

Joey Carbery looked comfortable in his biggest Test appearance since the World Cup, which will ease the succession plan worries heading into 2022. His kicking was almost immaculate with six conversions and two penalties, his final conversion from the touchline clipping the post and going wide. The Player of the Match won't lose sleep over it.

At kick-off it was hard to believe this game was taking place at the same venue that hosted the All Blacks win. The Sunday afternoon atmosphere was flat, and Ireland looked at a similar pitch when they conceded the first try inside two minutes.

A beautiful offload in the tackle by Thomas Gallo created a four-on-one that James Lowe was forced to bite in on, before Jeronimo de la Fuente passed to Mateo Carreras on the wing, who stepped inside a limp tackle attempt by Beirne to score.

It turned out to be a splash of water on the face that Ireland needed.

Within two minutes Carbery kicked a 38-metre penalty to cut the gap, before Ireland started showing the dynamic forward play that had been a staple of this month.

Van der Flier, Kelleher and Doris all made brilliant carries to get Ireland into the 22 where they won a penalty and kicked to the corner. Kelleher's throw was claimed by Beirne under some strong Argentinean pressure, which led to Van der Flier dotting down at the back of a powerful maul to the line.

When Carbery slotted the conversion, the disastrous start had been long forgotten, as Ireland moved 10-7 in front, 11 minutes into the game.

Argentina's linespeed was creating issues for Ireland, forcing forwards into contact when at times they'd rather have passed, but when Ireland got to the outside of the visitors' rush they always looked dangerous.

On 23 minutes, an excellent first phase attack down Lowe's wing saw Murray stopped short of the line, where again Argentina infringed. The resulting penalty was kicked to the corner and while the maul never got going, the pick-and-go options brought them to the line, before Porter ploughed over, aided by Ryan and Beirne driving him the final inches.

There was very little going right for Argentina, summed up by Boffelli missing two straightforward penalties within five minutes of each other, the first a simple shot at goal which was pulled to the left, the second a longer-range effort which he sliced to the right.

It was their best spell of the match, but they continued to waste the opportunities Ireland were giving them. Carreras should have scored a second try when he found a gap at the fringe of ruck in midfield before side-stepping Murray on the 22, before somehow spilling the ball under last-ditch pressure from Porter.

To compound Carreras' woe he injured himself in the process, leaving the field in tears as the teams regrouped for the scrum.

They had left 13 easy points out there, and within four minutes Ireland had landed the killer blow.

Twice they went down Baloucone's wing with the Ulster man gaining ground to bring them close to the tryline. A strong carry from Ryan led to another from Doris, who was met five metres out by two Argentinean tacklers. The number eight demonstrated ludicrous strength to carry both tacklers with him over the line for his second try in the space of a week.

The two tries, just over a week apart, demonstrate everything that Doris has to offer. His stunning footwork against New Zealand followed by pure brute strength this afternoon.

The timing of the score, right on half-time, was a hammer blow to Argentina, as Carbery made his fourth kick of the game to send Ireland in 24-7 in front at the break.

With 40 minutes of their season left and the game looking beyond them, Argentina came out determined at the start of the second half, but shot themselves in the foot with two brutal lineout malfunctions in Ireland's 22.

Ryan Baird had been a late first half HIA replacement for James Ryan, and the versatile Leinster forward showed just why there's so much hype around him with an incredible 50-metre burst to get Ireland back into opposition territory.

Once again, Furlong popped up in midfield with a dominant carry, which led to a penalty and yellow card against Pumas number eight Pablo Matera for a deliberate knock-on. Carbery tapped the conversion over the posts to make it a 20 point lead.

With Ireland cruising, it allowed Farrell to ring the changes early. Harry Byrne and Craig Casey were called upon after 50 minutes, as Carbery dropped back to full-back.

The pace and cohesion remained in spite of the changes, and Van der Flier drove over for his second try of the day on 57 minutes.

Having briefly returned to 15 men following Matera's sin-bin, Los Pumas soon found themselves back down to 14 following a shocking challenge from Tomas Lavanini.

The Clermont Auvergne second row was shown a red card by referee Matt Carley after a torpedoing himself shoulder-first into Cian Healy, who was lucky Lavanini connected with him just below the head.

Healy almost made them pay when he thought he had scored Ireland's fifth try of the day soon after, before it was pulled back on review by the TMO. Ireland had been playing with penalty advantage, and got their score moments later when Dan Sheehan touched down at the back of a maul, a first Test try for the Leinster hooker.

Argentina were thinking of the flight home by now, and more tries followed. Healy got over for a deserved score, almost a carbon copy of his earlier effort, before Beirne finished the game off with Ireland's seventh in the corner.

It was Ireland's 19th and final try of an exhilarating three-game stand.

Ireland: Hugo Keenan; Robert Baloucoune, Garry Ringrose, Robbie Henshaw, James Lowe; Joey Carbery, Conor Murray; Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Tadhg Furlong; Tadhg Beirne, James Ryan (capt), Peter O'Mahony, Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris.

Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Cian Healy, Tom O'Toole, Ryan Baird, Nick Timoney, Craig Casey, Harry Byrne, Keith Earls.

Argentina: Emiliano Boffelli; Mateo Carreras, Matias Moroni, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Lucio Cinti; Santiago Carreras, Tomas Cubelli; Thomas Gallo, Julian Montoya (capt), Francisco Gomez Kodela; Guido Petti, Tomas Lavanini; Santiago Grondona, Marcos Kremer, Pablo Matera.

Replacements: Facundo Bosch, Ignacio Calles, Eduardo Bello, Lucas Paulos, Facundo Isa, Gonzalo Bertranou, Nicolas Sanchez, Facundo Cordero.

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)