Dan Martin gave it everything on the punishing Mount Fuji climbs in the Olympic road race to finish in 16th place.
His team-mates Nicholas Roche and Eddie Dunbar finished 75th and 76th respectively. Only 82 of the 130 on the start line finished the race.
Dunbar paid the price for making a break in the final 50km, though later Martin described the 24-year-old Corkman as "the future of Irish cycling".
Dunbar admitted: "I followed a move, when you see a rider like that move it's important to follow, given his characteristics and what he's capable of doing.
"I felt good at the time and you never know what could have happened in a situation like that.
"It didn't pay off but that’s one day racing - you normally only have one bullet and when you use it that’s it, game over.
"I thought it was a great day for us and Dan finished in the top 20 today, so a good ride by all of us in the green jersey.”
Ireland's best finish is 13th in the event, a record held by Martin and Ciaran Power.
And the latter came close to surpassing it but lost touch with the leaders in the final stages.
“We came here with the idea of getting a medal and honestly, it’s been my best experience in an Irish team since I’ve been racing for Ireland," he said.
"We had the best preparation possible and we really worked together.
"It was a great team performance and yeah, unfortunately I just didn’t have the legs when it mattered on the climb.
"It was super-hot there and I just missed a couple of seconds to be in that front selection that was fighting for the medals.
"We did a perfect race today in my opinion, I wouldn’t change anything that we did today and that’s a really nice feeling coming out of an Olympic road race knowing that we all did our best."
Roche has spoken before about an unsatisfactory history in terms of Olympic performances.
After his fourth Games appearance, the 36-year-old said: "When we got to the last climb, I just rode my pace and made it to the finish.
"It’s been an honour for me to ride at the Olympics.
"I’ve had my chance to go for results of my own already three times and I thought it was fair to really commit this time for the other two who were, in my opinion, stronger for the day."
