FAI CUP FOURTH ROUND/ Wexford Youths 1 St Patrick's Athletic 3: JOHN MURPHY scored twice, his first goals for the club, to book St Patrick's Athletic's passage through to the quarter-finals.
But the Premier Division high-fliers were pushed all the way by Mick Wallace's amateurs, who belied the fact they prop up the whole of the League of Ireland.
It looked ominous for Wexford as St Patrick's blitzed them to run up a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes with strikes from Mark Quigley and Murphy.
But a stunning Gavin Doyle goal gave them confidence with John McDonnell's side having to work hard throughout the second half before Murphy sealed their win with his second goal of the night 20 minutes from time.
St Patrick's, with five changes to their starting eleven from the side that came from 2-0 down to earn a Uefa Cup draw at Elsborg on Thursday showing the strength in depth of their squad, not surprisingly had Wexford's goalkeeper Pa Doyle under pressure from the start.
As early as four minutes, Quigley played a double one-two with Bobby Ryan to bring the first of many stops from 18-year-old Doyle.
Doyle did well again within a further two minutes to push a Quigley shot out for a second St Patrick's corner after good work by Joe O'Cearuill and Murphy.
But Quigley wasn't to be denied the opening goal on 11 minutes following a litany of errors by Youths.
The St Patrick's top scorer latched onto Patsy Malone's loose back-pass to first round Doyle before seeing his weak shot trickle over the line despite the retreating Paul Rossiter's attempt to stop it.
Doyle made another good save from Alan Kirby's cross before the rampant Quigley curled a shot wide on 16 minutes.
Quigley was involved again for the visitors' second goal on 20 minutes. Doyle spilled the former Ireland under-21 international's long-range drive and recent signing Murphy side-footed home his first goal for the club.
If those St Patrick's goals were far from things of beauty, Gavin Doyle had the home crowd roaring their approval with a sublime strike on 28 minutes.
Having come across from the right flank, Doyle cut through the inside-left channel before unleashing a left-foot drive to the roof of the net.
The goal gave Youths confidence and they caused the visitors problems from Conor Sinnott corners throughout the second half, with Keith Kearney, Conor Wallace and Danny Furlong all firing wide.
In between, Doyle had to be at his best again to push away a stinging shot from Dave Rogers after the left-back had worked a pass off Kirby to charge in on goal on 54 minutes.
Kirby then blasted over the top after Jaroslaw Bialek's shot was blocked back to him, before St Patrick's sealed their win with their third goal on 70 minutes.
Stephen Brennan whipped over a terrific cross from the right flank and Murphy dived full length to power a header past Doyle.
But Youths didn't give up and within two minutes Furlong looped a header from another excellent Sinnott delivery from a free-kick off the St Patrick's crossbar as the Dubliners returned home knowing they'd been in a match.
• The Fourth Round tie between Kildare County and Derry City has been rescheduled for the Brandywell tomorrow night at 7.45pm. The match has been switched to Derry because Station Road is unavailable.
WEXFORD YOUTHS: P Doyle; P Rossiter, A Russell (Lawlor, 84 mins), C Wallace, Flynn-O'Connor; G Doyle, C Sinnott, Malone, K Kearney (Fitzgerald, 71 mins); Murphy (S Dempsey, 80 mins), Furlong.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Barry Ryan; Brennan, O'Cearuill, Harris (Paisley, 80 mins), Rogers; Bobby Ryan, Dempsey, Bialek (Fahey, 66 mins), Kirby (Guy, 66 mins); Quigley, Murphy.
Referee: Derek Tomney(Dublin).
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