Ireland's Cannon blasts four for Stoke in Portsmouth destruction

Six of the seven goals in Stoke against Portsmouth were scored by Irish players.

CANNONBALLER: Stoke City's Tom Cannon celebrates scoring his hat-trick goal against Portsmouth. Picture: Nigel French/PA Wire.

Tom Cannon scored four goals for Stoke in a 6-1 victory over Portsmouth on Wednesday evening.

Remarkably, six of the game's seven goals were scored by Irish players. Mark O'Mahony found the net for Portsmouth while Andy Moran hit Stoke's sixth.

Cannon opened the scoring after 13 minutes but Portsmouth were level through former Cork City man O'Mahony, on loan at the club from Brighton, 16 minutes later.

From there on, it was all about Stoke, and mostly Cannon. He added a second two minutes before the break. Sam Gallagher, teed up by Moran, made it 3-1 to Stoke with a sensational strike in first half injury time.

Cannon found the net twice in six minutes after half-time. He scored from the spot after Stoke were awarded a questionable penalty and added the second with a left-footed strike from inside the box.

Moran, also on loan from Brighton, found the net from the edge of the box after 54 minutes.

The win was the first of new manager Narcis Pelach's time in charge of the club. They had lost 3-1 to Hull and 2-0 to Middlesbrough. 

Cannon, who joined Stoke on loan from Leicester on deadline day, had not scored for the club in three appearances prior to Wednesday. He became the first player to score four goals in a Championship game in four years and the first to do so for Stoke in more than 24 years. Stoke had not scored more than one goal in a Championship game this season before facing Portsmouth. 

There were 10 Irish starters in Wednesday evening's four English Championship games.

Robbie Brady played 73 minutes for Preston as they beat Watford 3-0. Festy Ebosele lined out on the other side of that game. In addition to Cannon and Moran, Enda Stevens also played for Stoke. There were four Irish starters for Bristol City against Sheffield Wednesday: Goalkeeper Max O'Leary, centre-back Luke McNally, captain Jason Knight and Sinclair Armstrong in attack. Mark Sykes also stepped off the bench. That game finished goalless.