Ireland's fairytale run at the World Hockey Championships was cut short in the final by the Netherlands who secured a record eighth title with a dominant performance.
The Dutch cam through to win 6-0 after putting the Irish to the sword either side of halftime at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park -- the same venue where they won Olympic gold in 2012.
Lidewij Welten, Kelly Jonker, Kitty van Male, Malou Phenickx, Marloes Keetels and Caia van Maasakker scored the goals for the champions as they made it 32 matches in all competitions without defeat.
Taioseach Leo Varadkar tweeted that Ireland's runners-up would go down as "legends of Irish sport" before the squad arrives home to a civic reception in Dublin.
Ayeisha McFerran was named the best goalkeeper of the World Cup after conceding just three times in Ireland's run to the final and making crucial penalty shootout saves in the quarterfinal win over India and semifinal defeat of Spain.
Ireland captain Kathryn Mullan told the International Hockey Federation's website her team were disappointed but could look back with pride:
"It was a tough, tough game. We prepared as we did for all the other games. The turn around time was tight and we knew it was going to be a real physical effort from us and we weren't perhaps as fresh as we would have liked. But credit where credit is due, the Dutch are phenomenal.
"We may be disappointed when we look back at the game as to how they got in, but the better team on the day won. The effort my teammates put in was brilliant.
"It's tough right now, but in a few weeks or month we will look back with pride. We came in ranked 16th and we wanted to cause an upset. I'm wearing a silver medal, so we have definitely caused an upset."