It is a night that will live long in the memory of Derry City fans.
Liam Boyce scored a hat-trick as Derry City thrashed Waterford 7-2 at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium on Friday evening to extend their unbeaten run in the League of Ireland Premier Division to five games.
Two early goals from Boyce, a stunning strike from Sadou Diallo and Mark Connolly’s header gave Derry a 4-0 lead at the break.
Waterford’s Padraig Amond and Michael Duffy netted early in the second half before Boyce completed his treble just before the hour mark.
Gavin Whyte added to the impressive tally for the evening before Amond netted a late second consolation goal.
The Candystripes, who have now won their past four games, sit eight points adrift of leaders Shamrock Rovers – who face Sligo Rovers on Saturday – in second with a game in hand.
The home side took the lead in some style just five minutes into the game when Boyce’s powerful strike from the edge of the box found the top left-hand corner.
Derry nearly doubled their lead just two minutes later when Connolly nodded Duffy’s corner towards goal, but his header struck the crossbar.
Boyce doubled his tally when Duffy played the ball back from the left wing for the striker to convert on 24 minutes.
Tiernan Lynch’s men did not settle for a two-goal advantage with Bradley Wade palming Ronan Boyce’s effort to safety before twice thwarting Duffy.
However, the Waterford keeper could do nothing to stop Diallo who made it 3-0 on 36 minutes when his thunderous right-footed shot went in off the crossbar.
Duffy was provider once again just five minutes later when his corner was headed home by Derry captain Connolly.
Waterford got on the scoresheet four minutes after the restart when Amond controlled a long ball, burst into the box and slotted home through the legs of Maher.
But Duffy restored Derry’s four-goal advantage when he slipped the ball on to his left foot to beat his marker Darragh Leahy and fired past Wade.
Whyte and Boyce, who have a combined 58 Northern Ireland caps, linked up to make it 6-1 with the latter poking home Whyte’s looping cross to complete his hat-trick.
Whyte got in on the act in the 73rd minute when his low shot found the bottom right-hand corner.
Waterford netted the final goal of the game with 11 minutes to go when Amond struck again, but the night belonged to the free-scoring Candystripes.
Next up of City is a trip to Sligo on Saturday, July 12.
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