St Patrick's Athletic destroyed Portadown on a 3-0 scoreline in an enthralling Setanta Sports Cup Group Two tie at Richmond Park.
Pat's gave competitive debuts to Alan Kirby, Joseph Ndo and Gary O'Neill and all three played a part in the victory.
Ndo scored the first on 41 minutes, having been set up by O'Neill.
Kirby got number two on 47 minutes following an inch perfect pass from Ndo and then got his second of the night and Pat's third on 52 having connected with a Keith Fahey cross.
Ports were never really at the races and looked thoroughly out of their depth despite having nearly a full season of action behind them.
Pat's lined up with was roughly a 4-5-1 formation with O'Neill the lone striker with Ndo at the centre of that strong midfield behind him.
The Saints came out of the blocks on fire and Fahey sent a free kick just over bar on three minutes, the kick awarded after Wes Boyle had upended Anto Murphy on the edge of the Ports box.
Four minutes later Ndo took a shot from 25 yards out but he didn't get a clean enough connection on the ball and his effort flew wide of the post without troubling 39-year-old former England 'B' cap Kevin Pressman in the Ports goal.
Alan Smart got a foot to a cross for Ports on ten minutes but he couldn't get much power into it and Pat’s goalkeeper Barry Ryan had an easy save to make.
Pat's had a great chance to take the lead on 15 minutes when a well positioned Kirby appeared to be first to a cross from the left wing but the ex Longford Town man totally fluffed his lines and missed the ball when he took a kick at it.
Smart troubled Ryan again on 17 minutes when he collected a long ball form midfield and took a snap shot but again Ryan was up to the task.
Most of the pressure at this stage was coming from counter-attacks from Ports, who looked dangerous on the break.
Fahey had another free on 34 minutes after Peter Kennedy took down Kirby on the edge of the semi-circle but Fahey shot straight into the wall and the chance was gone.
O'Neill got on the end of a terrific Stephen Quigley ball on 40 minutes but Pressman defied his years to pull off a dramatic save.
His talent disappeared a minute later when Ndo nipped to open the scoring. The Cameroon international took advantage of hesitancy in the Ports defence and, after collecting a great ball from O’Neill, blasted past Pressman and into the bottom right corner of the net.
Colm Foley should have made it two in first half injury time but he rolled his effort across the face of goal.
Number two did eventually come, two minutes into the second half. Ndo, now playing a slightly more forward role in tandem with O’Neill, put Kirby through and Kirby slammed a rocket past Pressman from close range.
Pat's were in full flow now and dramatically snatched a third on 52 minutes.
Fahey collected the ball on the halfway line and put a slide rule pass over to Kirby who scored his second of the night from the right of the six-yard box.
Pat's had plenty of chances to further add to their tally but Ports appeared to be more interested in keeping the score down than going for goal and made it hard to the home side.
St Patrick's Athletic: Ryan, Brennan, Frost, C Foley, Kirby, Fahey, O’Neill, M Foley (O'Connor 65), Murphy (Maguire 80), S Quigley, Ndo (M Quigley 67).
Portadown: Pressman, O’Hara, Clarke (Liggett86), Boyle (Teggart 80), Collins, Smart (McCutcheon 56), Kennedy, McCann, Redman, Branniff, McKeown.
Referee: Anthony Buttimer (Cork).
