Derry City - 3 Kildare County - 1: A timely Peter Hutton header, one minute from half time, proved a devastating body blow for Kildare County at the Brandywell on Saturday night.
The Derry City skipper burst into the penalty area to meet Gareth McGlynn's corner and when he headed the ball powerfully home from eight yards, the First Division side were in difficulty.
Kildare had frustrated Derry before that goal, Stephen Kenny's side struggling to break down the visitors' 4-5-1 formation.
"Peter's goal obviously changed the pattern of the game and within 10 minutes of the second half we had added another two goals," said Kenny.
"To be honest, we should have scored more but I'm happy that we're continuing to learn as Kildare's 4-5-1 formation had caused us problems." McGlynn made it 2-0 in the 50th minute and while Killian Brennan chested the ball down for Mark Farren to add another four minutes later, Derry were through to the FAI Cup quarter-final.
For Kildare's John Ryan, the half-time break brought bitter disappointment.
"Everything was going according to plan until we conceded a silly corner at the end of the first half," lamented Ryan.
"There's a huge gap between the two divisions," admitted Ryan. "But I really can't fault the efforts of my players. Shay Zellor got a goal back for us after we fell 3-0 behind and I was happy that we continued to battle."
Kildare reduced the deficit in the 64th minute, Zellor racing clear to beat David Forde after Gareth Cooney had won the ball in midfield.
DERRY CITY: Forde; D. Brennan, Hutton, McLaughlin, Hargan; McGlynn, Murphy, Molloy, K. Brennan (Higgins, 73 mins); Farren (Gill, 68 mins) O'Flynn.
KILDARE COUNTY: Connolly (Corley, 29 mins); O'Brien, Cronin, Kenny, Clarke (Scully, 81 mins); Zellor, Cousins, Byrne, Cooney, Keyes; Reilly (Murphy, 57 mins).
Referee: P McKeon (Dublin)
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