Ballinamallard’s John Currie in for the tackle against St Pat’s
St Patrick’s Athletic 5
Ballinamallard United 0
(Aggregate score 6-0)
IT WAS all too easy for St Patrick’s Athletic as they secured a 5-0 win over Ballinamallard United to advance to the Setanta Sports Cup semi-finals.
A brace apiece from Mark Quigley and Conan Byrne sent the Saints marching past their Danske Bank Premiership opponents before Daryl Kavanagh added some gloss.
Having won the first leg 1-0 two weeks ago, Liam Buckley’s side were determined to make the most of their home advantage as they have yet to win this All-Ireland tournament.
With a classy striker like Quigley to call on that task was always going to be a little easier as the Dubliner marked his home debut on his second stint at the club with a typically stylish performance.
It was the No 10 who opened the scoring on 12 minutes through a free-kick. Awarded by referee Rob Rogers following a foul by Mark Stafford, the set-piece was drilled in by Quigley.
The hosts then shifted up a gear as Byrne got in on the scoring when he followed in a shot from Ian Bermingham to convert the rebound past helpless keeper Alvin Rouse.
There just wasn’t anything that Ballinamallard could do to stop Buckley’s troops and they never truly tested keeper Rene Gilmartin as they were second-best in most areas.
St Pat’s were 3-0 up by the interval when Byrne latched onto a superb lofted pass from Quigley to fire in a half volley. It was all too comfortable for the SSE Airtricity League champions.
Quigley, though, wasn’t finished as the former Shamrock Rovers man got his second goal when he found himself unmarked to easily fire in a pass from substitute Chris Forrester.
With one foot in the last four, Kavanagh made it a five-star display when he screwed in a shot after a good breakaway. It was exactly what the home crowd wanted to see from their team.
Ballinamallard, though, will have to lick their wounds after this first appearance in this competition didn’t exactly work out like they had hoped it would.