St Pat's lulled Drogheda United into a false sense of security before dismantling them with a devastating second-half show of strength at Richmond Park.
The visitors were eager to atone for a defeat in Sligo last weekend that manager Kevin Doherty slammed as their 'worst performance in years’. And for 45 minutes here, he looked to have got the desired response as Drogheda scored early through Thomas Oluwa and looked up for the fight.
But while Saints were guilty of dawdling through that opening half, there was no doubting their intent after the break as they picked Drogheda apart with a brilliant barrage of goals to make it four wins on the spin.
Ryan Edmondson ignited the fightback with his third goal in two games before Aidan Keena, Kian Leavy and Romal Palmer all weighed in to seal an impressive victory that looked unlikely at one point.
Most managers would put their hands up and accept if their side had been outclassed in a game, but few would tolerate their team being outworked and that was precisely the conundrum facing Stephen Kenny in the opening half.
Drogheda were far more tenacious and pounced to open the scoring in the sixth minute. Leavy coughed up possession to Conor Keeley and, against his old club, the centre-back pumped a long ball forward for Oluwa.
While the St Pat’s players and supporters screamed for offside, Oluwa was busy galloping down the left to reach the ball and once he did, he cut inside Sean Hoare and had the confidence to fizz a low shot into the corner beyond Joseph Anang.
Drogheda were ultra aggressive in their press and their in-your-face approach was working a treat with St Pat’s sloppiness in possession resulting in pointed terrace shouts of ‘wake up’ and ‘get going’.
But maintaining that approach was another matter for Drogheda because St Pat’s quickly turned the tables with an early goal of their own after the break when Edmondson stabbed Brown’s corner home at the near post.
The big Englishman nearly went from hero to villain within five minutes as he gifted Drogheda a penalty by wrestling Leo Burney to the ground in a goalmouth scramble, only for Mark Doyle to squander the spot kick with a meek effort that Anang saved.
To compound that frustration, Saints turned the screw with a spot-kick of their own in the 65th minute - and they never looked back thereafter. Substitute Keena slammed home when Keely handled Ian Turner’s cross into the box.
It knocked the stuffing out of Drogheda and their night imploded three minutes later when Leavy smashed home a third from close range before Palmer completed the rout with a tap-in eight minutes from time.
St Patrick's Athletic: Joseph Anang; Joe Redmond, Sean Hoare (Rhys Bartley 84), Luke Turner; James Brown (Billy Canny 84), Barry Baggley, Darragh Nugent (Aidan Keena 62), Jason McClelland; Romal Palmer (Anto Breslin 84), Kian Leavy; Ryan Edmondson (Max Mata 73)
Drogheda United: Luke Dennison; Leo Burney (James Bolger 73), Conor Keeley, Andrew Quinn; Edwin Agbaje (Jason Bucknor 73), Brandon Kavanagh, Shane Farrell (Ethan O’Brien 73), Jago Godden, Conor Kane (Kieran Cruise 81).; Thomas Oluwa, Mark Doyle (Warren Davis 69).
Referee: Rob Hennessy (Limerick)
