Galway United breeze past Salthill to progress to last eight
Thoughts among the 2,504 crowd were with the absent Ollie Horgan, a legendary figure at both clubs, with first-half goals from Garry Buckley and Stephen Walsh followed by Patrick Hickey's insurance in the second and Dara McGuinness' late fourth.
With a scatter of ex-United players representing Devon, this had a somewhat surreal feel but non-league sides tend to get trounced by Premier Division teams these days and there was little feeling of jeopardy - and less when United took the lead.
Patrick Hickey should have scored only for Arek Mamala to make a smart save.
From the corner kick, Buckley's touch was delicious and sufficient 11 minutes in but Salthill were poor in defending the set-piece, with David Hurley given too much space.
Mamala had a fine half, though he looked beaten on 20 minutes when Walsh's connection with a cross from the excellent Axel Piesold trailed wide.
Lovely skill preceded a low drive and good Mamala parry before Enda Curran reminded United fans of his own class with a superb first touch.
Alas his ambitious shot from around halfway did not even reach the end line.
Walsh met a typical Esua cross to double United's lead on 36 minutes with a header marginally too strong for Mamala, before slack United defending from a throw afforded the lively Darren Darcy ample space he could not exploit.
Hickey's potential return to the form he was in during the season's first half would boost United enormously.
He tapped in to make it 3-0 after a cross from substitute McGuinness on 66 minutes.
McGuinness connected with the effort of another substitute, Aaron Bolger, to make it four at the death.
Salthill Devon: Arek Mamala; Darren Collins, Ben Molloy, Paul Scally, Calum Crowe (Churchill Idemudia 73), Marc Ludden; Colin Kelly (Matthew Barrett 54), Alex Byrne, Timmy Molloy (Alex Murphy 54); Darren Darcy (Cole Connolly 68); Enda Curran.
Galway United: Evan Watts; Rob Slevin, Killian Brouder, Garry Buckley; Jeannot Esua, Axel Piesold (Jeremy Sivi 70), David Hurley, Jimmy Keohane (Malcolm Shaw 79), Bobby Burns; Patrick Hickey (Aaron Bolger 69), Stephen Walsh (Dara McGuinness 46).
Referee: Paul Norton.
Elsewhere, Cian Brosnan (above) scored a stunning early goal for Kerry FC as they recorded a 2-0 win over Cobh Ramblers at Mounthawk Park in Tralee to make the last eight of the FAI Cup for the first time.
The visitors had to play for most of the game with 10 players after John O'Donovan was dismissed in the second minute for a last-man challenge on the striker.
Brosnan found the back of the net with a volley from outside the box to put the hosts in control in the ninth minute.
Joe Adams added a second midway through the second half to ensure progression for Colin Healy's side, while the visitors were reduced to nine when Shane Griffin was shown a second yellow card late on.
Meanwhile, Finn Harps recovered from an early setback to beat Bray Wanderers 3-1 at Finn Park in Ballybofey, in a fiery affair that saw nine yellow cards and one red.
The hosts fell behind to a Cian Curtis goal in the eighth minute but struck three times in a 17-minute spell before half-time.
Young striker Josh Cullen brought the teams level with a header before Max Hutchinson's low finish made it 2-1.
Hans Mpongo added a third from the penalty spot and Wanderers played the final 36 minutes with 10 men following a red card for Billy O'Neill.
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