Inverurie Locos reached the semi-finals of the Morrison Motors Aberdeenshire Shield after easing their way past junior side Dyce at Harlaw Park.
Locos will travel to face Deveronvale or Huntly on either December 8 or 15 in the final four of the competition.
Locos were without striker Neil Gauld and veteran skipper Neil McLean, both of whom are on the injured list, while the Dyce side included a host of former Highland League players, including former Buckie Thistle goalkeeper Daniel Bell and ex Locos and Cove Rangers winger Jordan Leyden.
Locos started strongly and Robert Ward forced Bell into an excellent diving save with his outstretched leg in the fourth minute.
Bell did even better in the 22nd minute when Dyce defender Glen Donald was dispossessed by Ward who advanced into the box and shot but once again the visiting keeper made an important save.
On the half hour mark home pressure paid off when Lloyd Robertson ran onto a through ball from Nathan Meres and clipped the ball past Bell as the keeper advanced off his line.
Nine minutes later Shanks also got on the scoresheet when he drilled the ball under Bell from 10 yards out to double the home side’s advantage.
Seven minutes after the restart Bell did brilliantly to palm away a stinging 15-yard drive from Ross Still as the home side continued where they left off in the first half.
Two goals in as many minutes, both close-range efforts from livewire Shanks, saw the striker complete his hat-trick and effectively end any hopes of a Dyce comeback.
Dyce kept plugging away but the junior side just couldn’t find a way past a well-drilled Locos defence.
Deep into injury-time Shanks notched his own fourth and Locos’ fifth goal with a point-blank header.
Inverurie Locos manager Richard Hastings was delighted with his side’s victory.
He said: “I have to be happy to win 5-0 and score some good goals but I feel we could have still played some more football, which we did in the second half to be fair.
“As a result I was happier with our second half performance, we knew that they would make it difficult and give us a tough game, and they did, and it took us a wee while to break the deadlock but we’re delighted to get through to the semi-finals.
“Kieran always works hard so I am delighted for him to have scored four goals. We’ve done as much work as we can over the past week concentrating on crosses into the box so I’m very pleased for him that the work paid off for him.”
