Joe Doyle's on fire

Joe Doyle made history when he scored four goalsduring Cabinteely's 5-1victory over Athlone Town in Stradbrook on Friday night – and he said he would be straight onto teammate Ben Hanrahan after the game.

Fellow striker Hanrahan had been Cabo's top scorer in the First Division ahead of this match with three goals – but he was unavailable against the Town and as a result missed out on the largest victory achieved by Eddie Gormley's side since they entered the League of Ireland last season.

In Hanrahan's absence, Doyle was the beneficiary, netting four times to take his tally for the current campaign to five in total, making him Cabo's new leading marksman – and he intends to let his friend know all about it.

“He's one of my good mates as well, so I think he'll have a bit of shock in the system!” Doyle joked with Extratime.ie after the game.

“Yeah, I'll be on to him straight away, slagging him.”

Doyle became the first Cabo player to bag a hat-trick in the League of Ireland, netting his first three goals just seven minutes and 31 seconds into the game before getting his fourth in the 27^th minute.

It took him just six minutes and 28 seconds to complete his hat-trick. Though he was delighted with the accolade, he admitted he wasn't sure if he would be allowed keep the match ball.

“I have to go in and talk to Eddie now – hopefully I'll be able to keep it!” said Doyle. “Ah yeah, I'm buzzing. It's a great achievement, it's my first season with them as well, I'm happy out anyway.

“I had a mindset going out, it was my first game starting up front in a while so the mindset was to get a few goals on the board. One or two I'm happy with, but it's always nice to get a hat-trick.”

As quickfire as his achievement was, so too was the media response, with a Robert Lewandowski comparison coming from the42.ie and some “Joe Doyle's on fire” tweets doing the rounds. His haul moves him to within one goal of Cabo's all-time top scorer John McKeown, who netted six in the club's maiden season in 2015.

The quality of Doyle's opening two goals stands out: the first a long range drive into the top corner after an excellent turn left an Athlone defender on the ground; the second a bullet header.

The third, though, had a helping hand with a deflection while his fourth was a simple six yard tap in from an Oliver Hamzat pass.

“I just turned and it opened up so I decided to just hit it,” said Doyle of his first goal. “I wasn't even thinking, just straight off just hit it and hoped for the best and luckily it went in.”

When asked about his hat-trick sealing strike, the 19 year old said wryly: “Eh... it took a deflection but everyone needs a bit of luck to get their goals! It was good to get a few anyway.”

All five of Doyle's goals to date have come against Athlone at Stradbrook. As well as the four he got on Friday, the striker netted the winner when the sides met in Blackrock on the opening day of the season (a game in which Hanrahan also scored).

The former Lakelands and Dundalk u19s man admitted he will “have to open up the scoring against someone else soon anyway” and added that he was delighted to see his side pick up just their second league victory of the season – a result which sees Cabo move off of the foot of the table at the expense of the Midlanders.

“It's just great to get a win,” said Doyle. “From the first game of the second half of the season we were setting targets for ourselves.

“It's nice to get a win on the board. We deserved it. We've played well the last few games, so we definitely deserved it.

“We knew that Athlone had a few players gone, that they had gotten a new squad in, and we were looking to capitalise on them maybe not being too experienced with each other,” Doyle added.

“We were up for it anyway and with a bit of luck we went out and took advantage, that's all you can do. We're definitely better than what we've been showing.

“We just haven't been getting the luck, but we got a bit of luck there and showed what we're capable of.”