A first-half hat-trick from Eoin McCormack propelled Galway United to a comfortable victory over North End United in their Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup first round match in a rain-sodden Ferrycarrig Park. Conor Barry also got in on the act in th
A first-half hat-trick from Eoin McCormack propelled Galway United to a comfortable victory over North End United in their Irish Daily Mail FAI Senior Cup first round match in a rain-sodden Ferrycarrig Park.
Conor Barry also got in on the act in the opening 45 minutes to help the visitors to a 4-0 half-time advantage and they simply had to go through the motions after the turnaround.
McCormack opened the scoring in the eighth minute when he confidently swept home a Marc Ludden cross with his left foot and they doubled their advantage six minutes later when Conor Barry pounced on a defensive mistake before striding forward and coolly beating goalkeeper Lee Walker.
It wasn't all one-way traffic though, with North End twice going close before Galway made the breakthrough. Kyle Dempsey forced a save out of Tadhg Ryan in the third minute, while moments later the ball fell to the feet of Gary Byrne, but again the goalkeeper was equal to his shot.
The FAI Junior Cup holders again threatened in the 19th minute, when Ryan had to tip a long-range effort from captain Paul Murphy around the post and five minutes later the netminder did well to stop a Jason Murphy header.
However, Galway put the game to bed late in the first-half with two quick-fire goals from McCormack. In the 43rd minute, he met a pull back from Ryan Connolly and calmly slotted past goalkeeper Lee Walker and within 60 seconds he had completed his treble, gathering a Conor Barry pass, dinking the ball past a defender and rolling to the net.
The non-league outfit kept plugging away after the interval, but neither goalkeeper was seriously tested as Galway marched on to the second round of the FAI Cup with a routine victory.
