Galway United's Eric Lavine wore the widest smile of the fledgling season as his four goals got Galway United's new campaign off to the perfect start at Terryland Park.
Having been much the better side in the early stages, Finn Harps were left to rue some dreadful finishing, with new signing Alex Nesovic most guilty - though he did eventually score twice - as Lavine showed them where the goal was as Galway finished with a flourish.
Harps, with just two newcomers to Galway's four, clearly looked the more settled and composed side from the start and they should have been 3-0 up within the opening 20 minutes.
Thankfully for Galway, Harps, for all their good approach-play, were quite wretched in front of goal; Tom Mohan missing their first clear-cut chance on 15 minutes when rising unchallenged to head over from a Fergal Harkin-corner.
Two minutes later, the Galway defence was found wanting again, when a mistake from Brendan O'Connor and a ricochet off Nigel Keady presented Nesovic with a clear shot on goal which he planted wide.
Having scarcely been in the game at all, Galway then stole the lead with their first direct attack on 26 minutes. Galway looked sharpest down their right and, sure enough, that brought the goal. Harps lost possession and Ollie Keogh fed Sean Malee down the line. Lavine initially appeared offside, but cleverly dropped back prior to Malee's delivery and then raced through to beat Gareth Downey to the ball and force it into the net.
As if having received a wake-up call, Harps struck back within two minutes with a well-worked equaliser. Shane Bradley showed a deft touch to put the ball through to Nesovic who crowned the move with a fine finish.
But the game seemed destined to go against the grain and Lavine was only too happy to oblige when adding his second within a minute of the restart. Showing superb skill he flicked the ball by a defender to beat Downey with a crisp left-foot volley.
Lavine's hat-trick arrived on 54 minutes, courtesy of a blunder by Downey who flapped at Keogh's cross. Gareth Gorman's shot was blocked by a defender, but the ball broke to Lavine who shot home.
The rollercoaster continued with Harps hitting back within two minutes; Nesovic's well-struck shot following Harkin's free-kick deflecting off Scott Morgan to fly into the bottom corner of Forde's net.
Galway's substitute David Goldbey added their fourth after skilfully controlling Ger Crossley's free-kick.
The night belonged to Lavine, however, and he got the final say with his fourth and Galway's fifth goal in the final minute; running clear onto Darryl Mooney's ball to shoot into an empty net.
GALWAY UNITED: Forde; Keady (Neary 88), Morgan, O'Connor, Fortune, Keogh (Goldbey 66), Mooney, Crossley, Gorman (Murphy 73), Lavine, Malee.
FINN HARPS: Downey; Kenny (Kelly 72), Boyle, S Bradley, Minnock (Ellington 82), Mohan (McCabe 58), Tierney, Harkin, McGrenaghan, Mulligan, Nesovic.
