League Report: Dundalk 5 - 2 UCD

Dundalk retained their position at the top of the SSE Airtricity League, bouncing back from having gone a goal down in the third minute to see off UCD on a 5-2 score line.

The Lilywhites didn’t have it all their own way and The Students must be praised for the way they persevered and didn’t lie down as so many teams have at Oriel Park this year.

The home crowd were stunned early on when, in the third minute, Chris Mulhall blasted a free kick past Peter Cherrie from all of 35 yards. While the shot was well struck, Cherrie will be disappointed to have been beaten from such a distance.

Dundalk, however, didn’t take long to respond and Pat Hoban was the man in the right place at the right time, bravely getting his head to a Richie Towell flick on and guiding it past the advancing O’Donnell to get the home side back on level terms.

The hosts almost took the lead just minutes later when Darren Meenan’s free kick was headed goalward by Hoban but on this occasion, the ball flashed just past O’Donnell’s left-hand post.

Dundalk’s next chance came as the half-hour mark approached; great work down the right flank from Meenan resulted in a corner which Meenan took himself. Hoban was once more on the end of it, but his header was again just inches wide.

A set piece seemed most likely to be Dundalk’s avenue to taking the lead, and so it proved to be when, just after the half hour mark, Conor O’Donnell made a real mess of a simple back pass, scuffing it out for a corner. Meenan delivered a rasping in-swinger which O’Donnell failed to deal with, fumbling the ball and allowing Kurtis Byrne to poke it home and inject some much needed life into the terraces at Oriel Park, the home fans having been uncharacteristically subdued until that point.

UCD’s defence was doing itself few favours and they paid the price less than five minutes later when Horgan took full advantage of a mix-up between Gareth Mathews and Ian Ryan, stealing in between the centre-back pairing to blast the ball unceremoniously past the hapless O’Donnell.

The fourth goal arrived on the stroke of half time and resulted from another set piece. Again, Meenan delivered and Brian Gartland met the ball perfectly with his head and powered it into the net to leave the home side looking very comfortable at half time with a three goal lead.

Dundalk began the second half in the same fashion as they ended the first. Barely sixty seconds were on the clock when Richie Towell brought the best out of O’Donnell, forcing him into an excellent low save from his shot from just outside the box.

UCD, however didn’t lie down and enjoyed a spell of dominance for the next ten minutes or so, causing a number of nervy moments in the Dundalk rearguard but failing to make their dominance count.

The next real chance of note came at the midpoint of the second half, Daryl Horgan making great progress into the UCD box and squaring for Towell, who saw his side-footed effort sail mere inches over the bar.

Very much against the run of play, UCD grabbed a second goal in the most dubious of circumstances. Andy Boyle was penalised for a trip inside the box, although it looked like a very harsh decision from the ref. Robbie Benson stepped up and dispatched the penalty confidently. Boyle, who had picked up a yellow card in the 51^st minute, appeared to have been booked again by referee Jim McKell, however no red card was forthcoming.

UCD had Conor O’Donnell to thank for keeping the score down, he pulled off a number of top-drawer saves, two in particular from Daryl Horgan. He was, however, powerless to prevent a fifth Dundalk goal as Pat Hoban stroked home from the penalty spot, O’Donnell having taken down substitute John Mountney resulting in the awarding of the spot kick.

5-2 was how it finished at Oriel Park, the home side picking up their fifth league win on the trot and keeping the chasing pack off their heels for another week at least.  

Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Sean Gannon, Andy Boyle, Brian Gartland, Dane Massey (Mark Rossiter 70); Daryl Horgan, Richie Towell (Ruaidhri Higgins 70), Chris Shields, Darren Meenan; Kurtis Byrne (John Mountney 87), Pat Hoban.
Subs not used: Marc Griffin, David McMillan, Simon Kelly, Gabriel Sava (gk).

Booked: Boyle (51)(74), Towell (66)
** although Andy Boyle recieved a second yellow on 74 mins he was not sent off by referee Jim McKell - the error was later rectified with Boyle recieving a retrospective red card and suspension **

UCD: Conor O’Donnell; Gareth Mathews, Ian Ryan, Michael Barker, Mark Langtry; Gary Burke, Barry McCabe, Samir Belhout (Dwayne Wilson 87), Chris Mulhall; Robbie Benson, Cillian Morrison (Thomas O'Halloran 78).
Subs not used: Niall Corbett (gk), Tomas Boyle, Robbie Creevy, Michael Scott.

Booked: None.

Referee: Jim McKell

Attendance: 2,162

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Pat Hoban (Dundalk)