Cork City thumped four goals past Athlone Town to make it six wins from seven atop the First Division table in front of 2,306 fans at Turner's Cross.
Hans Mpongo, Conor Drinan, Greg Bolger, and AJ Bridge found the net as City snapped their three-game winless streak (one draw, two losses) against the Town.
They remain five points clear of Bray Wanderers, while Athlone fall to fourth, nine points behind the league leaders.
City were without last week’s match-winner Cillian Murphy, due to his involvement in Ireland’s Euro U17 qualifiers, where he also scored in the 3-0 victory over Poland.
Drinan came in on the left flank, Mpongo moved up front, and Seani Maguire dropped in behind. Mpongo also contributed two assists in a man-of-the-match performance.
That front four were all involved in City’s opening chance with Mpongo laying off for Ruairí Keating to cannon over the bar.
That duo were the protagonists again as City took a sixth-minute lead. Josh Fitzpatrick’s slide rule pass sent Keating through and his low shot looked set to find the net. The onrushing Mpongo made sure with the final touch before it crossed the line for his second goal since signing from Finn Harps.
Following their defeat at Treaty United, Athlone called Jonathan Kehir, Robert Lyons, and Peter Grogan into their team. The latter almost profited from a Fiacre Kelleher error only to launch the ball into the Shed End.
The Town were enjoying a period of dominance and put Conor Brann to work through stinging efforts from Kyle O’Connor and Patrick Ferry, who was the visitors’ key attacking outlet.
City steadied and doubled their lead in the 36th minute. Fitzpatrick and Maguire did the groundwork down the right before the latter switched the ball in behind for Mpongo. He kept the play alive before rolling it back for Drinan to drill into the far corner, with the left winger celebrating his first goal since June 2024 into the St Anne’s End.
Athlone struck back two minutes from the break. Mpongo again kept the ball alive to prevent a throw-in, but this time unwisely so as it only served to tee up an Aaron Connolly cross. Aderinsola Adewale climbed highest to smash a superlative header into the bottom corner, a spectacular way for the 20-year-old to gain his first league goal.
Keating appeared to have got his goal five minutes into the second half when poaching upon a Maguire rebound. However, the striker was offside before finishing.
Andrew Stuart Trainor diverted Fitzpatrick’s subsequent chance into the sidenetting and the resulting corner saw Oliver Moran’s whistle sound for a free-kick moments before Maguire headed to the net.
In the 65th minute, Bolger put the result beyond doubt. Reece Webb cleared the ball into his own teammate, Connolly, and it fell perfectly for the veteran midfielder to send in a first-time cross for Keating. The striker stuck his leg out and was initially credited with the decisive touch. He offered no celebration and pointed to Bolger, who held his arms aloft to take the acclaim.
It was his final act before being called ashore. Bolger’s replacement, Bridge, added the cherry on top one minute from time. From Brann’s long ball, Mpongo fed the Norwich City loanee to dispatch his first senior goal.
Cork City: Conor Brann; Rory Feely, Fiacre Kelleher, Charlie Lyons; Josh Fitzpatrick (Matthew Murray 66), Darragh Crowley, Greg Bolger (AJ Bridge 77), Conor Drinan (Matthew Kiernan 88); Seani Maguire (Niall O’Keeffe 88); Ruairí Keating, Hans Mpongo.
Athlone Town: Andrew Stuart Trainor; Reece Webb, Jonathan Kehir, Evan O’Connor, Kyle O’Connor (James Crawford 73); Aaron Connolly, Aaron Moloney, Robert Lyons (William Smith 32), Aderinsola Adewale (Gradi Lomboto 63); Patrick Ferry, Peter Grogan (Alex Sheerin 73).
Referee: Oliver Moran (Dublin).
Bray Wanderers stay second in the table after a late 2-1 win over Kerry at the Carlisle Grounds.
Niall Brookwell drilled home the visitors' opener after Bray failed to deal with a long throw from Cian Bargary.
But Wanderers were level early in the second half as Kerry left Ben McCormack with the run of the six-yard box, and he made no mistake.
And substitute Ryan Kelly completed the turnaround at the death, firing home across Harry Halwax and into the right corner.
Elsewhere, UCD picked up their first win in four games after a comprehensive 4-0 victory over Cobh Ramblers at Belfield.
Stephen Mohan sent the Students in ahead at the break, heading home after fine build up play by Mikey McCullagh out right.
And McCullagh was also the provider for the second, whipping in a ball from the right which Hugh Smith dived to meet with his head.
Killian Cailloce scored his first goal for the club inside the last 10 minutes, volleying home from close range before Ciaran Behan's fifth of the season put the cherry on top for the Students.
At Ferrycarrig, Wexford secured their first win since the opening day of the season, beating Treaty United 3-2.
Some route one soccer set up their opener as goalkeeper Paul Martin launched one upfield and Jake Doyle got between the two centre backs before burying the ball to the net.
Martin was involved again before the break as he got down low to his left to keep former Wexford attacker Cian Curtis's penalty out. The hosts missed a spot kick of their own before the break as Mikie Rowe put his penalty too close to Jack Brady after Kyle Foley handled the ball.
Ben Feeney equalised for Treaty with a header but Rowe would make up for his earlier spot kick miss as he put the Slaneysiders back in front a short time later, getting down low to meet Jamie Wynne's ball from the left.
Adam Verdon added a third with 15 minutes to go, twisting and turning on the edge of the box, before striking a low shot past the wrong-footed Brady.
And it turned out to be an important one for the purple and gold, as Kaylem Harnett turned a late Curtis cross into his own net, but there was time for little more afterwards.
