Derry City 5 Sligo Rovers 0: A goal-fest fittingly brought the halloween celebrations on Foyleside to the Brandywell as Derry City eased into the cup final with St Patrick's Athletic on December 3rd, to the delight of the 3,500 crowd on another memorable night in a remarkable season for Stephen Kenny's side.
But it was so much a night to forget for Sligo - a nightmare return to the ground where, just two weeks ago, they suffered a similar beating in the league.
Irritating pitch incursions by fancy-dressed fans in the guise of superman, and a father Christmas or two, couldn't rescue Sligo whose promising, though nonetheless creditable, season is now all but over.
With the league cup already in the trophy cabinet, Derry's season has the potential to get much better as they very much keep alive their dream of a treble.
Despite a bright start to the game, the omens had already appeared to conspire against Sligo as they lost goalkeeper John O'Hara, the man-of-the-match in Sunday's 0-0 draw at the Showgrounds, when he injured a thumb in the warm-up and was replaced by Richard Brush.
As fireworks popped off around the city, it was Brush's opponent at the other end, David Forde, who was first to have his hands warmed on a chilly evening as he held Adam Hughes' long-range drive after the opening was created by an interchange between Harpal Singh and Paul McTiernan.
McTiernan, after Hughes had won a tackle on the edge of the area, shot wide, before Derry threatened for the first time at the other end on 12 minutes - Brush, showing no sign of rustiness, got down well to hold Ciarán Martyn's low shot.
Sligo had come to play, though, and within a minute Darren Mansaram, who might have won the first match at the death, blazed high and wide before a linesman's flag saved Derry as Singh appeared legitimately through on goal from Hughes' pass.
Derry slowly got a grip and Mark Farren's pace extracted the first booking of the night for Gavin Peers. The Sligo right back was then well placed as Ken Oman's goal-bound shot from Gareth McGlynn's 21st-minute free-kick hit him in the face and was cleared.
Another let-off on 31 minutes preceded Derry's lead goal two minutes later.
Paddy McCourt weaved his first piece of magic of the night to cross from the left with a deflection off Hughes taking the ball away from the waiting Farren at the back post.
A mere reprieve it was, however, as McCourt scored an audacious opening goal with a composed finish with the sole of his right boot from McGlynn's precise cross from the right.
Sligo's season was all but up within a further seven minutes when Derry scored a morale-sapping second goal. The industrious McGlynn skipped into the box and was taken down by Turner's badly-timed tackle. Farren shot the resultant penalty to the roof of Brush's net despite the goalkeeper diving the correct way.
Farren was then instrumental in effectively booking Derry's passage through to the final on 43 minutes. A mazy run took the striker past several Sligo defenders before he laid the ball off to the lurking Martyn whose low shot arrowed to the bottom right-hand corner of Brush's net.
If that bordered on the ridiculous, Derry's fourth goal, less than two minutes into the second half, was simply sublime. Farren chased a loose ball into the bottom corner, quickly gained control to pull it back before curling a left-foot shot that entered the net off the far post.
A slip by Brush might have brought a fifth on 64 minutes, but the goalkeeper regained his balance and composure quickly to save substitute Kevin Deery's shot at the second attempt.
Martyn did add a fifth with his second of the night two minutes into stoppage-time, sidefooting past Brush who had parried McCourt's initial shot.
DERRY CITY: Forde; McCallion, Hutton, Oman (Delaney, 78 mins), Hargan; McGlynn, Martyn, Molloy (Higgins, 84 mins), McCourt; Farren, Beckett (Deery, 57 mins).
SLIGO ROVERS: Brush; Peers, McNamara, Burns (McKenzie, 62 mins), Turner; Kuduzovic, O'Grady, Hughes, Singh; McTiernan (Aiseien, 72 mins), Mansaram (Foy, 54 mins).
Referee: D Hanney (Dublin).
