Derry City 6 Ballymun United 0:DERRY CITY substitute Aaron Nash broke Ballymun hearts at the Brandywell last night when the towering striker scored the fastest hat-trick at the Foyleside venue.
And it was particularly tough on Casey McQuillan’s youngsters who had battled hard throughout the proceedings, happy to keep the scoreline respectable following their first visit to the northern stadium.
Indeed, Lady Luck was clearly not on their side as they threatened to enter the break with what would have been a deserved 0-0 scoreline.
But then Derry’s David Scullion chipped the ball into the danger area in the 42nd minute before the unfortunate Liam Byrne headed high into his net.
But the Dubliners battled on, and while David McDonnell and Robert Keely failed to hit the target when well positioned, Mark McChrystal doubled Derry’s lead in the 58th minute to end the tie as a contest.
And Ballymun would have been happy with that, before Nash entered the fray at the expense of Sammy Morrow on 78 minutes and within three minutes he headed home the first of his sensational hat-trick.
One minute later the striker scored another when he diverted a James McClean cross home to make it 4-0 and, amazingly, he netted a highly memorable hat-trick in the 85th minute to give his side a flattering, 5-0 lead.
As Ballymun heads dropped, Scullion ended the rout with Derry’s six goal in the 86th minute to see last season’s FAI Cup finalists safely through.
DERRY CITY: Doherty; O’Brien, McChrystal, Delaney (McEleney, 87 mins), McCallion; Scullion, Higgins, Martyn, McClean; Morrow (Nash, 78 mins), Farren (84 mins).
BALLYMUN UTD: Conroy; Doolan, Murray, O’Brien Sheridan; Byrne, O’Reilly, McDonnell, Flynn (Behan, 73 mins); Doyle (Downey, 66 mins), Keeley.
Referee: N Doyle (Dublin).
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