On Hat Tricks

Former U21 striker Andy Jackson notched his second career hat trick in the Scottish Cup for Brechin City on Tuesday, 9th December, scoring three goals in a 4-2 win over Annan Athletic. This came more than three years after his last treble, in an 8-0 win for Morton away to Stranraer, in which the Scottish-born striker finished with four goals to his name.

What was notable about the more recent hat trick was the speed at which he managed the feat, finding the back of the net in the 4th, 11th and 27th minutes, taking 23 minutes in total to complete the task.

We've examined the record books here at Irish Abroad to see where this ranks in the history of Irish strikers' hat tricks.

Jackson's fellow former U21 striker Billy Mehmet holds the current record for the fastest hat trick, scoring three in 11 minutes for St Mirren in a bizarre 6-3 win for the Buddies against East Stirlingshire in August 2009. With the Paisley side leading 3-0, their opponents scored three times to level the scores, before Mehmet struck twice more before substitute Stephen O'Donnell also found the net to leave the final score 6-3, and the Irishman scoring more than half the goals!

James Collins and Anthony Stokes have both scored trebles in only 12 minutes, for Swindon Town and Falkirk respectively, while Collins also has the record of the longest time taken to complete his hat trick, needing 92 minutes to finish his three goals for Swindon in a 4-3 extra time win for the Robins against Stoke City in August 2012.

Stokes has the most hat tricks since we started compiling information on Irish players, the Celtic striker has collected no less than seven match balls in his career to date, including consecutive hat tricks for Falkirk in the Scottish Premier League.

So far, Adam Rooney is the only player to score a hat trick in European competition, scoring three away to Daugava Rīga in the qualifying rounds of the Europa League in July this year.

Only four midfielders have scored hat tricks while the site has been active, with a treble apiece for Liam Lawrence(Stoke City), Aiden McGeady(Celtic), Wes Hoolahan(Norwich City) and Jimmy Ryan(Accrington Stanley).