Leinster Senior Cup Report: St. Patrick's Athletic 4-0 Crumlin United

Reigning champions St. Patrick's Athletic booked their place in the semi-finals of the Leinster Senior Cup on Wednesday night as goals from Jamie McGrath, Jack Bayly and a double from Morgan Langley ensured a comfortable 4-0 win at Richmond Park, putting an end to the Saints previous run of five straight losses.

The game began with news of a full-strength St. Pats side taking to the field despite the nature of the competition and the opposition in Leinster Senior League side Crumlin United, with Liam Buckley opting for the same starting eleven that lost horrifically to bottom of the table Limerick last Saturday night.

Pats would go about the game in a confident air, with early chances from Morgan Langley and Jamie McGrath showing the champions intent to retain their title.

The game did not take too long to register an expected Saints lead as Jamie McGrath reeled away from his marker following a Morgan Langley through ball, with the 18 year-old taking the ball in his stride to fire the ball into Crumlin goalkeeper David Meehan's far post for an early lead after fifteen minutes.

Crumlin failed to carve out many clear-cut chances for themselves in a steady first half showing, with midfielder Greg Moorhouse the protagonist for all chances coming their way. He delivered numerous free kicks into Conor O'Malley's box throughout the opening half, only with a lack of penetration and cutting edge ultimately being shown in Kenny Brown's easy handling their offers on goal.

Crumlin did come close to equalizing in the first half however, as Moorhouse broke aggressively through the middle of the park unattended only for his clever through ball for Gerard Lowe to be overplayed and be caught by the speedy reactions of Conor O'Malley.

It was 2-0 just after the half hour mark as Morgan Langley latched onto Conan Byrne's bizarrely awesome chip over the head of Crumlin goalkeeper David Meehan to tap the ball over the line when it possibly would have went in anyways.

Langley stood out immensely for St. Pats, with the Hawaiian forcing save after save from Meehan in the final period of the first half. Following on from a thunderous James Chambers shot from outside the penalty area, Langley had an attempt of his own miraculously palmed away by Meehan.

The goalkeeper was called upon again when Ger O'Brien's late cross into the box was headed gold-bound by Langely, with the Crumlin 'keeper getting down well to save and keep the scoreline at 2-0 going into the break in an incredible display from the goalkeeper on the night.

The game would turn into an undeniably one-sided affair in the second half as St. Pats upped their game to completely dominate their opponents.

A quickly taken Conan Byrne corner fed Jamie McGrath to release a snapshot just outside the Crumlin penalty area for the ball to deflect out and wide, before Morgan Langley grabbed his second of the night.

The Hawaiian, by a combination of shuffles and dribbles, rounded goalkeeper Meehan before toe-poking the ball into an empty net in a clever finish to make it 3-0.

It was 4-0 by the end of a night that saw Conan Byrne and Morgan Langley dominate their opponents, linking up and causing havoc across the Crumlin defensive line all night.

Jack Bayly got the fourth after only twenty seconds of arriving on the pitch for Aaron Greene. Conan Byrne was again the protagonist of the assist, as he brought his marker to the end line, creating the space for Bayly to run into, only to cut the ball back for a timely cross for Bayly to take control of and smash the ball home to put the Saints into the final four of the competition.

St. Patrick's Athleic: Conor O'Malley; Ger O'Brien, Sean Hoare, Kenny Browne, Ian Bermingham (Lee Desmond 46), Conan Byrne, Greg Bolger, James Chambers, Morgan Langley (Sam Verdon 74), Aaron Greene (Jack Bayly 80), Jamie McGrath

Subs not used: Brendan Clarke (gk), Jason McGuninness, Paul Rooney, Darragh Markey

Bookings: None

Sent off: None

Crumlin United: Davis Meehan; Kevin Dempsey, Daniel McGuninness, Ciaran Nagle, Thomas Hyland, Kieran Reilly, Patrick Cannon (Carl Forsyath 64) , James Lee, Gregory Moorhouse (Dean Hurley 72), Gerard Rowe, Robert Douglas (Alan McGreal 62)

Subs not used: David Dempsey, Leon Johnson, Chris Stresells, Johnny McIvoil

Bookings: Douglas (51), Hurley (80)

Sent off: None

Referee: Ben Connolly

Attendance: 500 (estimate)

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: David Meehan (Crumlin United)