HOCKEY
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A BLUE and white demolition crew rolled up to Bob Roach Field on Saturday to do a number on the Orange Wanderers - St Pat's posting a 10-2 win after a brutal 70 minutes of men's Premier League Hockey.
The effort made it three wins from as many matches in 2015 for Pat's, whose clinical hockey already has them being touted as minor premiership favourites.
Pat's scored five goals in each half - Matt Naylor responsible of three of those - and kept the visitors scoreless in the second stanza.
"They were switched on today right from the start. I'm very happy. The guys did the leg work for each other. They were running very hard and that made the difference," Pat's coach Ben Hurford said.
"Our ball control and possession was good and it showed today that the guys have been working hard at that.
"Wanderers were very good on the counter-attack, I thought. They caught us out a few times, but we talked at half-time about the way we could address that and it showed in the second half."
The game was three minutes old when Riley Hanrahan got the scoreboard ticking over for Pat's.
The Saints were awarded three penalty corners within the opening 15 minutes and Naylor converted two of them.
Matt Johnson finally got the Wanderers on the board as he successfully converted the side's second penalty corner 19 minutes into the game to make it 3-1.
However, within a minute of that Pat's made a break down the right wing and Brodie Cook was on hand to finish the move off.
With two successive penalty corners late in the half, the Wanderers were able to keep themselves in the contest.
A shot which beat Pat's goalkeeper Travis Cartwright struck the leg of defender Shane Conroy which resulted in a penalty stroke.
Johnson made no mistake from the spot to make it 4-2.
In the final minute before the break, a leaping Josh Toole helped in a shoulder-height ball to push the margin back out to three.
The second half opening whistle signalled the start of one-way Pat's traffic.
Co-captain Jaden Ekert got on the end of a Hanrahan cross for an easy finish within the opening minute.
Hanrahan got his second six minutes later before Tobbie Muldoon was successful with a penalty corner drag flick.
Naylor made it hat-trick in style with arguably the goal of the match with nine minutes to go.
He beat several defenders and sent in a diving effort as he tripped over Wanderers goalkeeper Darryl Kennewell.
Cook then sealed the win in dying minutes as he made it 10 Saints goals for the afternoon.
"We were well and truly outclassed. We weren't coping with their ball movement, player movement and their hockey," Wanderers coach Peter Shea said.
"Our attack through the middle part of the field is going okay, but we can't concede 10 goals and expect to win. There's a few issues in our defensive pattern at the moment. Once we get those things sorted out, we can be more competitive."
ST PAT'S 10 (Matt Naylor 3, Riley Hanrahan 2, Brodie Cook 2, Tobbie Muldoon, Jaden Ekert, Josh Toole) defeated ORANGE WANDERERS 2 (Matt Johnson 2)