Lawrie McMenemy must be glad the IFA decided to offer him a two-year contract before their last two matches. On Saturday they lost 3-0 at home to Turkey before this trouncing against Germany in Dortmund's Westfalen Stadium.
The rampant European champions were home and dry by halftime.
Middlesbrough's £4-million wing-back Christian Ziege was superb and he bagged a hat-trick inside the first 45 minutes.
McMenemy had attempted to tighten up his leaky defence by handing Ian Nolan his first cap in nearly two years in place of Aaron Hughes, while Steve Morrow came in for ankle injury victim Barry Hunter.
McMenemy knew what he was up against and make no mistake, Northern Ireland were in the lion's den.
The Germans had won eight and drawn one of the nine previous internationals they had played in Dortmund.
Northern Ireland's last three visits to Germany they have resulted in one win and two draws. But there was to be no repeat of such heroics this time.
Germany took just over two minutes to open the scoring through skipper Oliver Bierhoff.
Mehmet Scholl cracked a 25-yard free-kick against the post and when the ball rebounded to Ziege he centred for Bierhoff to tap home.
After 16 minutes Germany effortlessly sliced through the Irish to score a second.
Oliver Neuville broke down the right and pulled the ball back from the goal-line for Ziege to score with a simple tap-in.
It was now just a question of how many the Germans would score - and the third came on 33 minutes.
Ziege played a neat one-two with Bierhoff before volleying home left-footed into the bottom corner from just inside the penalty area.
To add to Northern Ireland's mounting misery Kevin Horlock and Steve Lomas will miss next month's final qualifier against Finland because of suspension.
Greek referee Georgios Bikas finally punished a poor German challenge when he booked Ziege for a foul on Neil Lennon just before the interval.
But there was still time for Ziege to complete his hat-trick and two minutes into first-half stoppage time Marco Bode missed Jens Jeremies' cross and the former Milan wing-back turned and fired home.
Unfortunately the Germans' fine performance was tarnished by a series of dirty fouls and cynical play-acting.
McCarthy went down clutching his face, with the Irish claiming he had been elbowed and then kicked on the ground.
Germany: Lehmann, Babbel (Strunz 30), Ziege, Linke, Nowotny (Worns 46), Jeremies, Scholl, Neuville (Schneider 67), Bierhoff, Matthaus, Bode. Subs Not Used: Butt, Neuendorf, Nerlinger, Janker. Booked: Ziege, Linke, Strunz. Goals: Bierhoff 3, Ziege 16, 33, 45.
Northern Ireland: Taylor, Nolan, Horlock, Lomas, Williams, Morrow, McCarthy, Lennon (Gillespie 46), Dowie (Quinn 46), M. Hughes, Kennedy. Subs Not Used: Wright, A. Hughes, Jenkins, Rowland, Robinson. Booked: Horlock, Quinn, Lomas. Att: 42,345.
Referee: G Bikas (Greece).
