FAI Cup second round: St Patrick’s Athletic 8 UCC 0
Chris Forrester scored a nonchalant brace as St Patrick’s Athletic equalled a club record win to cruise through to the FAI Cup third round with this facile victory over Munster Senior League side UCC at Richmond Park.
Having won the cup twice in the last four years, and five times in total, Stephen Kenny’s side were never in danger of losing their record of never having lost to a non-league team in the competition.
Doubtless with Thursday’s Conference League home clash with Estonian side Kalju in mind, manager Kenny opted for a completely different starting XI from last Thursday’s rousing 2-0 win away to FC Hegelmann.
That meant a full debut for 19-year-old midfielder Matthew O’Hara, captain of the club’s under-20 side, who recently signed his first professional contract having been at the club since he was 13.
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UCC needed a play-off victory to retain their top flight status in the MSL which finished two months ago.
Not only out of season, they travelled to Dublin missing up to a half a dozen first-team players in what was head coach Noel Healy’s final game over a 15-year association with the university club.
Unsurprisingly, it was one-way traffic from the off with UCC goalkeeper Kevin Fitzpatrick inspired early on with fine saves to deny Conor Carty and Aidan Keena, before Saints pressure told on 19 minutes, if not from an expected source.
Zach Elbouzedi pulled the ball back for defender Axel Sjoberg, whose low cross was knocked past Fitzpatrick by his unfortunate skipper Colm Murphy for an own goal.
Fitzpatrick made another terrific save to thwart Elbouzedi one-on-one while Carty bounced a header off the crossbar from Brandon Kavanagh’s delivery, all a mere prelude to the floodgates opening with a quick-fire treble before half-time.
First, the lively Kavanagh beat Fitzpatrick at his far post with a looping header from Sjoberg’s cross on 40 minutes.
Two minutes later Kavanagh’s shot was deflected into the path of Keena, who cut inside a couple of defenders to drill to the bottom corner.
Skipper Forrester then got in on the act to utterly deflate UCC when casually dribbling past three defenders inside the area to tap home.
The goal deluge continued into the second half with another three scored inside six minutes of the restart.
Scarcely a minute in, Al-Amin Kazeem ghosted in off the left flank to meet Sjoberg’s cross and find the top corner for his first goal for the club.
Two minutes later it was 6-0 when half-time substitute Jake Mulraney rifled to the bottom corner from the edge of the area.
Kazeem then provided the cross for Carty to continue the scoring on 51 minutes with a well-placed header.
Forrester completed the rout with his second from a crisp low drive to the net on 68 minutes following debutant substitute Billy Hayes’s assist.
Daragh Murtagh scored a first half hat-trick as First Division Longford Town had to come from behind twice to see off Mayo League side Castlebar Celtic, 6-3, at the town’s Celtic Park.
Mark Cunningham and Eoghan Hughes twice put Castlebar in front with Murtagh equalising on each occasion before getting his third, all inside the opening 23 minutes.
A penalty from Jordan Loftus levelled for Castlebar to complete a manic first half before a Dean George brace and a goal from substitute Francis Campbell eased Longford to victory.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Rogers; Sjoberg, Turner, Breslin; Forrester, O’Hara (Grivosti, 63); Elbouzedi (Mulraney, h-t), Kavanagh (Hayes, h-t), Kazeem; Carty, Keena.
UCC: Fitzpatrick; Duggan, Murphy, Iyalla, O’Neill (Roberts, 64); McCarthy; Walsh (Connolly, 64), Broderick (Bowdren, 80), Howard (O’Halloran, 69), Loughery; Fahy (Sulleiman, 69).
Referee: Alan Patchell (Dublin).
Attendance: 1,243.
