Liam Boyce bagged a hat-trick off the bench in just 25 minutes to put Derry City through to the next round of the Sports Direct FAI Cup.
With the game in Markets Field at a stalemate and fast approaching the hour mark, Boyce was summoned and ended up being the difference.
Derry City would likely have welcomed a cup tie after their most disappointing result of the season last week.
Their 2-0 defeat to Sligo Rovers really put a dampener on what had already been a mixed league campaign to date, but the allure of at least €650,000 in European money for winning this tournament might have been enough to merit its own independent focus.
The Candystripes were hardly blessed with an easy run in last year's renewal, so in a sense, a trip down to Limerick was probably a turn in their favour. Although their cup history against teams from the third city is mixed at best.
Perhaps their most famous meeting in cup competition came in the League Cup final in 2002, when a Brendan Hughes-captained Limerick FC, who had finished bottom of the second tier that year, lifted the trophy at the Brandywell, after winning 3-2 on penalties.
Now, the gap isn’t quite as big as it was back then – and the fact that Derry City had to wait until 40 minutes into the game for an effort of note was more reflective of their pedestrian pace than the evolution of football on Shannonside.
But as the clock ticked towards 60 minutes with little joy, Tiernan Lynch was forced to act. He called out for the services of Boyce and, within two minutes, the former Northern Ireland international repaid in kind.
Michael Duffy lined up a corner from the right-hand side and his lofted cross found Boyce right on the penalty spot. The contact wasn’t perfect, but it looped over Corey Chambers into the Treaty net.
Ten minutes later, the tie was over.
For all the good the hosts might have done in open play, they were undone once more from a set piece, as Michael Duffy’s corner found Alex Bannon at the back post to nod into the bottom corner.
And the trifecta was completed five minutes later as another Duffy corner found Boyce, who’d barely been on the pitch a quarter of an hour.
The vocal home crowd at least had their moment to celebrate as their undisputed talisman Lee Devitt pulled one back with just over ten minutes to go.
But that would soon be ruled out when Boyce completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot, and Danny Mullen completed a rout that had looked highly unlikely only ten minutes beforehand.
Treaty United: Corey Chambers; Evan O’Connor, Robbie Lynch, Mark Walsh )eoing Martin, Ben Lynch; Steven Healy (Fionn Doherty, 89), Connor Wilson (Brian Cunningham, 65); Colin Conroy (Mark Byrne, Lee Devitt, Mark Murphy; Trpimir Vrljičak (Patrick Ferry, 77).
Derry City: Brian Maher; Alex Bannon, Mark Connolly, Sam Todd; Ronan Boyce (Robbie Benson, 77), Sadou Diallo, Adam O’Reilly, Shane Ferguson (Hayden Cann, 57); Gavin Whyte (Liam Boyce, 57), Dipo Akinyemi (Danny Mullen, 69), Michael Duffy (Adam Frizell, 77).
Referee: Lucas Keating.
