International friendly: Mexico 3-1 Republic of Ireland

The Republic of Ireland played Mexico in front of a crowd of 42,017

An under-strength Republic of Ireland were outclassed by rampant Mexico in a friendly match at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

First-half goals by Jesus Corona and Raul Jimenez and Carlos Vela's tap-in after the break secured the 3-1 win.

Substitute Stephen Gleeson's strike 13 minutes from time was some consolation for Martin O'Neill's men.

The Irish host Uruguay in a friendly on Sunday before a World Cup qualifier at home to Austria on 11 June.

Brighton defender Shane Duffy got a first taste of action since he suffered a fractured metatarsal on 4 March, with O'Neill desperate for him to get minutes under his belt ahead of Austria's visit to the Aviva Stadium

Strikers Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick were also handed chances to stake a claim.

But it was goalkeeper Darren Randolph, who lost his place at West Ham towards the end of the Premier League season, who was given ample opportunity to regain match sharpness as Mexico started strongly.

Corona curled a third-minute shot wide of the far post and then steered another off target from Vela's pull-back eight minutes later.

The opener came from a Mexico break after a Republic corner, Jorge Hernandez feeding the ball to Corona, who slipped past Daryl Horgan and Richard Keogh before firing home.

O'Neill's men were being overrun in midfield and were undone again with 25 minutes gone when Hernandez floated the ball over the top to former Arsenal striker Vela, who was barged to the ground by James McClean, the Republic skipper on his 50th appearance.

Jimenez converted the resulting penalty with a casual efficiency to put Mexico 2-0 ahead.

Duffy had a 44th-minute strike ruled out for offside after Conor Hourihane's earlier effort had been deflected out for a corner.

O'Neill resisted the temptation to change either personnel or system at the break but his hopes of a fightback were dashed within nine minutes of the restart after Callum O'Dowda could only deflect Jimenez's pass into the path of substitute Oribe Peralta.

His shot was well saved by Randolph but the rebound fell to Peralta who squared unselfishly for Vela to tap home.

Defender Kevin Long was handed a senior debut when O'Neill made a 64th-minute triple substitution but it was Gleeson who made the telling impact from the bench when he steered home from close range after Oswaldo Alanis stabbed McClean's cross straight to him.

What they said

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill: "First of all, I was delighted with the game. Secondly, quite a number of players have not played football for quite a considerable amount of time.

"In terms of our preparation for the main game against Austria, I thought it was excellent. Mexico were very good, they were good on the ball as befits a side like that.

"I thought it was a great work-out, a great exercise for us.

"It really is a fantastic stadium and the noise in terms of atmosphere and occasion was very good. But I would have liked us to have played better."