Considerably better sides than Glenmore have learned the lesson over the past few seasons that taking a nap on a visit to Richmond Park generally turns out to be a costly error, so it was no great surprise on Saturday evening when Joe Reynolds's non-league outfit were made to pay dearly for their early drowsiness.
Celtic, it seemed, had booked their alarm call for slightly after the scheduled kick-off time and, by the time they had cottoned on to what was going on around them, they were behind to two Trevor Molloy goals and already as good as out of this year's FAI Cup.
Over the course of the remaining 84 minutes they did manage to do themselves considerable credit but Reynolds admitted afterwards that he had suspected that after the second goal it might turn into a cricket score and ultimately he was happy enough to get away with his side's pride still intact.
Just how they had managed to start so badly remained a mystery to him but, by the time he was reflecting on the game as a whole, not too important. "The fact is," he said, "I couldn't be more proud of the way my lads played tonight. For more than 80 minutes we matched the National League champions and that's an achievement that shouldn't be underestimated."
Nor should the loss, early on, of Reynolds himself who was flattened after three minutes by his own goalkeeper in the mix up that led to the first goal. Three minutes later the foot injury he picked up in the incident may well have contributed to Molloy's second, with Reynolds giving the young striker enough room to attempt a shot from the edge of the area when conventional wisdom may have considered it best to close him down.
After 23 minutes Reynolds finally limped off but by then the fact that his own team had steadied their collective nerve and St Patrick's no longer seemed to see much reason to exert themselves meant that the game had settled into a decent, if slightly pedestrian, contest.
Trevor Wood had to make a couple of fine stops early on, one from Warren Gregg, another from Dave Kelly, while Derek Dodds lost his balance just as opportunity knocked in the 41st minute on the edge of the six-yard box.
Andy Foot's low strike forced another stop from the goalkeeper three minutes into the second period and Kelly should have driven home in injury time after doing the hard stuff by getting by Packie Lynch. By the time the latter chance came, though, Eddie Gormley had made it 3-0 with a far post header from Molloy's corner from the left.
"People will say it should have been more," sighed Liam Buckley afterwards, "but sometimes it's difficult for everyone to keep going when they feel the game is won so early like that. The important thing, though, is that we're in the second round, so I'm not going to complain too much."
Glenmore Celtic: Kelly; Weir, Reynolds, Maguire, White; Kelly, Gregg, Doolan, Dodds; Flynn, Power. Subs: Hannigan for Flymm (65 mins), Foot for Reynolds (23 mins).
St Patrick's Athletic: Wood; McGuinness, Lynch, Hawkins; Croly, Gormley, Osam, Russell, Doyle; Molloy, Gilzean. Subs: Campbell for Russell (57 mins), Burke for Hawkins (70 mins).
Referee: E Barr
