A flawless display by Jonathan Sexton eased Ireland to a 29-9 win over an off-colour Argentina at Dublin's Aviva Stadium to close out their autumn Test campaign on Sunday.

The Ireland fly-half got the better of his former Leinster mentor, Argentina's Felipe Contepomi, kicking 17 points as the hosts got the better of the side that consigned them to two demoralising defeats in the 1999 and 2007 World Cups.

The hosts also scored the only two tries of the game through Stephen Ferris and Gordon D'Arcy.

Ireland led 19-3 at half time, following an impressive all-round show as Declan Kidney's side emerged from a slow start to play with style and power.

Unfortunately the second half failed to give the 30,476 numb-fingered support little to cheer, but following a run of just one win in the last eight games, the Irish won't argue.

Questions will surround Argentina's progress too, as their European tour comes to a disappointing end - particularly in the manner with which they lost in Dublin.

With Ireland struggling to achieve a level of consistency this autumn, Santiago Phelan's side may have sensed they were facing a vulnerable team.

But while Argentina have recorded victories in every major European rugby city, Dublin was the one place they had yet to tame. And so it remains.

Argentina enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges and Mario Ledesma appeared to have rolled over the tryline only for Heaslip to somehow put his body between the prop and the ground.

Breaks by D'Arcy and Andrew Trimble got Ireland into Argentina territory for the first time and eventually Sexton slotted home a penalty to give Ireland the lead.

Ireland were pressurising Argentina in midfield, with Peter Stringer highly impressive on his return to the starting lineup, and it was no surprise the Munster scrumhalf had a hand in the opening try.

Stringer linked up with Sexton, who fed Tommy Bowe and just as they did against New Zealand last week, backrow duo Heaslip and Ferris combined impressively, with the Ulsterman grabbing a second try in as many games.

Sexton converted before he and Contepomi each nailed a penalty goal.

The former and current Leinster fly-halves traded penalties in the 30 minutes that followed the restart before Ireland finished with a sparkle, D'Arcy's chip-and-collect try in the last minute capping a dull second-half with a piece of genius.

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