Ireland 20-10 USA: Captain Ciara Griffin 'the proudest person in Ireland' after win

Ciara Griffin praised her side's togetherness after defeating the USA

Ireland captain Ciara Griffin said she was "the proudest person in the country" after her side put a turbulent week behind them by battling to a hard-fought win over the USA in Dublin.

The build-up to the game had been dominated by comments made by IRFU women's director Anthony Eddy who denied that the 15-a-side game had been neglected in recent years.

That assertion was publicly refuted by past and present players, including hooker Cliodhna Moloney who was backed by multiple team-mates on social media.

"That group in there are solid," said Griffin after Ireland toppled the world's number sixth ranked side on Friday.

"They pick you up when you're down, they always have your back. I couldn't be prouder of that group."

This week's furore was an intensification of the ongoing conversation surrounding the structures of the women's game in Ireland, which was put into the spotlight when the team failed to qualify the World Cup having reached the tournament semi-finals seven years ago.

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Eddy rejected the suggestion that the 15-a-side game had been pushed to the side in favour of the sevens set-up, comments that provoked an angry response from multiple former players and Moloney, who likened the remarks to "slurry spreading", before Griffin herself expressed disappointment in Eddy's assertion.

"We were just so focused on this match," said the captain after Friday's victory.

"Actions speak louder than words so it was important for us to get the result tonight."

Ireland grind out hard-fought win

The hosts never trailed the US but did not open up a two-score lead until the final act of the game.

Tries from Beibhinn Parsons and Leah Lyons put the Irish seven points up at the half before Lindsay Peat's second half score proved enough to seal the morale boosting win for the hosts.

Parsons showed electric pace to score the first points of the game after 25 minutes, collecting Stacey Flood's crossfield kick to expose a narrow US defence.

The visitors fought back when Bulou Mataitoga went over in the corner just minutes after Saher Hamdan had been denied a try for an earlier knock-on.

Lindsay Peat scored Ireland's decisive third try in Dublin

Prop Lyons dove over from close range with a minute to go in the first half to send the Irish in with their tails up, but they were quickly pegged back after the break as a glorious US move ended with Elizabeth Cairns collecting Katana Howard's offload and scoring.

The decisive try came from Peat as Ireland made the most of their numerical advantage with Mataitoga in the sin-bin, rolling a maul over the line to open up a seven-point lead.

The USA may feel aggrieved that they were denied a potentially equalising try when Tess Feury was deemed to have knocked on in the 66th minute when stretching for the line, with replays suggesting the full-back grounded fairly.

However Ireland gladly accepted the fortuitous break and made sure of the win in the final moments as Stacey Flood knocked over a penalty.

Ireland: Delany; Sheehan, Considine, Naoupu, Parsons; Flood, Hughes; Peat, Moloney, Lyons, Fryday, Monaghan; Griffin, McMahon, Caplice.

Replacements: Jones, O'Dwyer, Djougang, O'Connor, O'Leary, Dane, Higgins, Murphy Crowe

USA: Canett; Feury, Talei Bonte, Howard, Mataitoga; Foster, Waters; Benson, Hamdan, Rogers, Sommer, Washington; Ehrecke, Johnson, Zackary.

Replacements: Treder, Learned, James, Taufoou, Cairns, Ortiz, Hawkins, Levy.