St Patrick's Athletic powered their way to joint top of the table with a thrilling victory over previously unbeaten Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds yesterday. The hero for St Patrick's was striker Ian Gilzean, who capped his debut for the Inchicore club, with a stunning hat-trick against one of his former clubs.

It took Gilzean just 10 minutes to set St Patrick's on the road to victory. He found himself completely unmarked just six yards from goal and made no mistake with a firm downward header from Trevor Molloy's cross. Sligo were stunned again just three minutes later as Eddie Gormley gave Mark Westhead no chance with a scorching 20-yard drive.

Lee Thew raised Sligo's hopes when he headed in from Neil Ogden's corner kick after 24 minutes; but St Patrick's restored their two-goal advantage just four minutes later.

Molloy cleverly worked the ball back to Paul Osam and his cross was despatched to the net in spectacular fashion by Gilzean. St Patrick's increased their lead in the 67th minute, when Gilzean was on hand to score from close range.

St Patrick's switched off in the closing stages and almost paid a heavy price as Sligo put in a spirited rally. Padraig Moran converted Steve Jones's cross to make it 4-2 in the 87th minute and then, with time almost up, substitute Steve Birks grabbed a third.