St Patrick’s Athletic hit UCC for eight in FAI Cup clash as Longford strike late to sink Castlebar

Chris Forrester celebrates with Anto Breslin after scoring St Patrick’s Athletic’s fourth goal against UCC during the FAI Cup second round match at Richmond Park. Photo: Michael P Ryan/Sportsfile

It’s all eyes on next Thursday’s Conference League second round for St Patrick’s Athletic, but they took care of their FAI Cup business in emphatic style by hitting UCC for eight to book their place in the next round.

The Saints have been struggling in front of goal domestically of late, having scored just one in six games before yesterday’s clash against the Cork outfit, but Stephen Kenny’s men eased to an 8-0 victory at Richmond Park, where Chris Forrester was among the goalscorers with a brace.

It took St Pat’s, who have lifted the FAI Cup twice in the last four years, just 19 minutes to find the breakthrough through an unfortunate Colm Murphy own-goal, before three strikes in five minutes from Forrester, Aidan Keena and Brandon Kavanagh just before the break firmly put the tie to bed.

Kenny’s men raced out of the blocks at the restart with Jake Mulraney finding the net just two minutes after being introduced, while Al-Amin Kazeem and Conor Carty also struck past the men from the Rebel County.

Forrester bagged his second minutes after the hour mark as the Inchicore side eased their way into the third round, with the draw set for Tuesday afternoon.

It may have been one-way traffic at Richmond Park but it certainly wasn’t in Mayo, as Longford Town needed three late goals to avoid a shock and book their place in the third round after being pushed hard by non-league Castlebar Celtic, the First Division side eventually emerging with a 6-3 win.

A remarkable first-half saw the sides each score three goals, with Longford’s Daragh Murtagh netting a hat-trick while Mark Cunningham, Eoghan Hughes and ex-Sligo Rovers striker Jordan Loftus finding the net for the Connacht outfit.

The tie was heading for extra-time with the score remaining at 3-3 going into the final 15 minutes, but the visitors hit three late goals through a Dean George double either side of Francis Campbell’s goal to ensure their name was in the hat for the next round.

Wayne Groves’ side have won the FAI Cup just twice in their history, in 2003 and 2004, with their last final appearance coming in 2007.

The victories by St Pat’s and Longford meant that every League of Ireland side progressed to the third round of the FAI Cup this weekend.

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