It was just the start to the tournament the organisers and sponsors would have wished for. The Carlsberg Trophy opened at Lansdowne Road with 45 minutes of thrilling action and they couldn't have scripted it better themselves as St Patrick's Athletic and Liverpool shared five first-half goals.

The second-half was sedate by comparison, though the arrival of Michael Owen was more than enough to keep the 20,000-strong crowd happy as Liverpool advanced to this afternoon's final after a testing examination by the National League champions.

They came to see the 18-yearold Owen, for whom Liverpool are searching for an insurer to underwrite to the tune of £60 million.

The England sensation didn't disappoint as he provided sporadic glimpses of his pace and incisive running when playing the second 45 minutes.

By then, the game had died a death and it never resembled the excitement of the first half.

Liverpool might have been forgiven for thinking they were always in command, but St Patrick's showed few signs of disappointment after their European Cup defeat at the hands of Celtic just 24 hours earlier and gave the Merseyside team a good contest.

There is little substitute for quality balls into the box and Liverpool and Republic of Ireland internationals Jason McAteer and Steve Staunton, playing wide either side of a flat back four, supplied ample amounts of them early on to test the St Patrick's defence.

Not that the National League champions' defence had to be that diligent such was the poor finishing of front two Sean Dundee and Karl-Heinz Riedle.

Dundee was the guilty party on nine minutes when Riedle's cushioned header to him from Staunton's superb delivery was headed wide. Within two minutes, Riedle wasted an even better chance when powering a header from McAteer's ball wide of the opposite upright.

Once played to feet Liverpool found far more accuracy and were soon in front 13 minutes into the game. Danny Murphy carved out a pass to Patrik Berger straight in front of goal 20 yards out and his lethal foot beat Trevor Wood with the help of a deflection off Paul Osam.

It was one-way traffic and another sublime cross in from the left by Staunton on 18 minutes almost brought a second goal; Wood diving to his left to palm away a looping header from Dundee.

However, St Patrick's soon settled and began to enjoy some possession. But it was from a setpiece that their equaliser arrived on the half-hour.

Phil Babb's tackle on Martin Reilly was rightly punished. Liverpool attempted to play an offside from Eddlie Gromely's free-kick and Colin Hawkins, later to be named man-of-the-match, timed his run to perfection and was left all alone to control the ball and sidefoot it past David James.

The old saying of being at your most vulnerable when you've just scored was all too true for St Patrick's as they fell behind again within 30 seconds.

Straight from their kick-off Liverpool got forward and Berger flicked a ball through to Riedle in a crowded area; the German remained calm to shoot low past Wood from 12 yards.

More Liverpool disorganisation at the back from another free-kick might have had St Patrick's level within a few minutes. Hawkins and Reilly, both unmarked at the back post, failed to get a touch to another Gormley free-kick as the Liverpool defence appeared bemused.

There were few problems up the other end for Liverpool, however, as a fine set piece gave them their third goal on 36 minutes. Danny Murphy, looking comfortable in the centre of midfield alongside his captain Paul Ince, curled a delightful 25-yard free-kick directly into the top corner of Wood's net after Hawkins had fouled Dundee.

You couldn't take your eyes off the action now as St Patrick's hit back within three minutes when their skipper Gormley delighted in sending James the wrong way from a penalty after Babb's second contribution of note in the match was to pull down Reilly inside the area.

The St Patrick's striker should have levelled the scores three minutes from half-time, but he contrived to toe-poke over the crossbar after Paul Osam had flicked on a telling cross from Jeff Clarke.

The second half, not unexpectedly, failed to offer anything resembling the thrill-a-minute action of the first and, disrupted by a flood of substitutions, the match petered out without further goals.

St Patrick's Athletic: Wood; Clarke, Hawkins, Lynch, Doyle; Braithwaite, Gormley, Osam, Russell; Molloy, Reilly. Subs: Croly for Braithwaite (72 mins), Gilzean and Devereux for Osam and Russell (both 78 mins), Byrne for Molloy (80 mins).

Liverpool: James; McAteer, Babb, Carragher, Staunton; Leonardsen, Ince, Murphy, Berger; Dundee, Riedle. Subs: McManaman and Owen for Murphy and Rielde (both at half-time), Bjornebye for Ince (62 mins), Kvarme for Leonardsen (72 mins), Thompson for Dundee (78 mins)

Referee: J McDermott (Dublin).