The Republic of Ireland all but secured their place in the Women's World Cup play-off final with a dominant victory over Kazakhstan in Friday's first leg in Astana.

Kyra Carusa (2), Chloe Mustaki, Emily Murphy and Abbie Larkin all scored to put Carla Ward's side in control before the break.

The hosts were reduced to 10 players when captain Yulia Myasnikova was sent off in the 33rd minute following a video assistant referee (VAR) check for her foul on Irish forward Larkin.

Jamie Finn added a sixth and Shanade Hopcroft marked her debut with a goal, before Jessie Stapleton completed the rout in the 90th minute.

The second leg takes place at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork on Tuesday (19:30 BST), with the Republic of Ireland well on course to face Belgium or Poland in the play-off final as they chase a second successive appearance at the tournament.

"In the second half there were a few spaces we could have exploited a little bit more, but that's me being picky," Ward told RTE.

"The girls deserve an awful lot of credit because we spoke all week about no complacency, making sure we do the job professionally and having the same approach as if we were playing some of the best in the world.

"They did that tonight and I thought they were outstanding."

Having finished third behind France and the Netherlands in qualifying, the Republic of Ireland were pitted against 99th-ranked Kazakhstan in the first round of the play-offs.

They embarked on the 3,100-mile trip without captain Katie McCabe, Denise O'Sullivan and Marissa Sheva amid discussion surrounding Ward's future and links to the Aston Villa vacancy.

Despite that, the Irish were rarely troubled on the artificial surface at Astana Arena.

Having already established early dominance in possession, Ward's team opened the scoring after seven minutes when Carusa headed Mustaki's cross past Kazakhstan keeper Nazym Ismailova.

Mustaki then struck for her first international goal before turning provider to create Carusa's second.

With the away side already cruising, the game's most controversial moment arrived when Myasnikova fouled Larkin as the Irish striker attempted to race in behind the home side's defence.

While Norwegian referee Karoline Marie Jensen originally showed the centre-back a yellow card, she upgraded it to red after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor.

Already down to 10, Ismailova was forced off injured, before Murphy and Larkin increased the Republic of Ireland's lead at the halfway point.

Given the margin, Ward introduced Amber Barrett, Tyler Toland and Leanne Kiernan at the break and the Irish maintained control as Finn netted her first international goal with a fine header from Aoife Mannion's cross.

Four minutes after being introduced, Crystal Palace midfielder Hopcroft marked her debut with a fine finish, while Stapleton rounded out the one-sided game.

While they fell short of matching their record 11-0 win over Georgia in 2021, Ward's side produced a professional and clinical performance to put the tie to bed as they look to book their ticket to Brazil next summer.