Lauren Pfeiffer finally put her side’s penalty corner mishaps behind the US as she dragged home the winning goal with 11 minutes to go, breaking Irish hopes of reaching the Electric Ireland FIH Champions Challenge I final on home turf. It came from the tenth corner the US had earned and helped them come from a goal down at half-time against the Irish for the second time in four days.

Lisa Jacob had given the Irish a dream start when she slid onto Michelle Harvey’s disguised corner push in the third minute off the back of Anna O’Flanagan’s good work. From there, the US fought back with gusto as the triangle of Katie O’Donnell, Pfeiffer and Shannon Taylor created plenty of chances that their corner team could not finish off. They did gain parity early in the second half as Katelyn Falgowski found Pfeiffer racing clear down the left wing. She picked out the on-rushing O’Donnell who slid in for a simple finish.

Ireland lived on the counter and showed flashes of danger but the US had the clearer chances and eventually moved ahead with a neat move to the left and Pfeiffer picked out the opposite corner. Alex Speers had a fleeting view of goal but Jackie Kintzer smothered five minutes from time to leave Ireland fighting with Scotland for third place while USA contest Sunday’s final against Australia.