Gretna 1 Derry City 5Ahead of last night's Uefa Cup tie at Fir Park, Gretna's only experience of playing European opposition had been a friendly against Iceland's Stjarnan Garabjaer in 1992 when 75 people turned out to see the home side win by a couple of goals.
In the wake of this defeat to Derry City they can presumably forget about playing anyone quite so exotic anytime soon for their first competitive adventure on the international front looks certain to end at the Brandywell in two weeks' time.
Derry manager Stephen Kenny said afterwards: "We started nervously and I was disappointed we conceded the early goal but I always thought we had better in us and thankfully the goals were all spectacular, something special. It's turned out to be a memorable night for us."
Such was the gulf between the two sides during the second half it seemed almost bizarre to think it was the Scots who had led early on. Ryan McGuffie's first-half strike, though, counted for little after Darren Kelly pulled the sides level prior to half-time and Kevin Deery and Ciarán Martyn each chipped in with a pair of wonderful second-half goals.
The winning margin was the biggest secured by an Irish team in Europe, narrowly eclipsing the 4-1 victory by Shamrock Rovers at Spora Luxembourg in 1966.
If Gretna manager Rowan Alexander had underestimated Derry last night then his confidence must have been bolstered by the opening exchanges in which the Scots dominated midfield, made Derry's attempts at playing an offside trap look decidedly improvised and created a couple of clearcut scoring chances.
The goal Derry conceded was from a rather straightforward set-piece with Derek Townsley floating a free-kick forward from inside his own half for Brendan McGill to head into the path of McGuffie, who gave goalkeeper David Forde no chance.
But for Stevie Tosh's insistence on trying his luck when there were much better placed team-mates, City would surely have conceded a second before the break but it would have been a cruel blow for the signs of their revival were evident everywhere.
With the vastly-experienced Peter Hutton marshalling what now looked a much more effective back four, Tosh's opportunity was largely the product of a slip by Forde. In midfield the tempo of Derry's passing had picked up and Kenny's side had benefited too from his decision to revert to the 4-5-1 formation that had worked so well in the Gothenburg games.
With Kevin McHugh dropping to the right and then, along with Stephen O'Flynn on the other flank, working hard to provide support to Gary Beckett, the locals were finding their opponents a more difficult to contain.
Derry's breakthrough came from a free with Seán Hargan doing well to control a Hutton ball he had appeared to misjudge before crossing to the far post where Darren Kelly out-jumped his marker to head home.
Had Alexander's men succeeded in restoring their lead the second half might have been a different contest but as it was City, sensing the game was there to be won, stepped up a gear.
The first really stark evidence of Gretna's helplessness came eight minutes into the second half when Chris Innes was lucky to escape with a booking for impeding Martyn. The punishment, though, was completed by Deery who sent the resulting free sailing into the top corner from 30 metres out.
Three minutes later he scored a better goal. The distance was the same but this time the 21-year-old caught the ball on the half volley and, along with the 2,000 Derry fans behind the goal, was already celebrating before the ball hit the back of the net.
With a reputation as the club's most prolific midfielder to defend, Martyn was not to be outdone and the Sligoman bagged two himself, the first from close range after he had slipped past Alan Main and shot through a couple of defenders, the second from farther out after Gary Beckett had sent him racing clear of the last Gretna player.
Gretna, unsurprisingly, looked bowed and beaten, and barring one of the greatest comebacks in the history of European football, they will look much the same way when they leave Ireland for home in a fortnight's time.
GRETNA: Main; Canning, Innes, Townsley (Jenkins, 58 mins); McGill (O'Neill, half-time), McGuffie, Tosh, McQuilken, Skelton; Doucher, Grady.
DERRY CITY: Forde; McCallion, Hutton, Kelly, Hargan; Deery, Martyn, Molloy (Higgins, 76 mins), O'Flynn (McCourt, 72 mins); McHugh, Beckett (McGlynn, 84 mins).
Referee: M Strahonja (Croatia).
