League Report: UCD 3 - 0 Cobh Ramblers

UCD scored three goals in the second half to overcome a stiff first half resistance from Cobh Ramblers as they recorded their fourth consecutive league victory. Robbie Benson was at the heart of everything good for UCD on the night, scoring two goals and creating the other as the captain led by example at the UCD Bowl.

The players were greeted onto the pitch by a sombre entrance song, 'This Year's Love' by David Gray and perhaps unwittingly this song set the tone for the first half. UCD seemed a little lacklustre and void of urgency as Cobh Ramblers won the tactical battle.

UCD began in the ascendency and put together some good passing moves. Two early corners saw Mick Leahy come close to scoring. The first corner, whipped in by Benson saw Leahy's header cleared off the line, while the second corner swung in by Gary O'Neill saw Leahy's header well held by the Cobh goalkeeper.

After almost twenty minutes played, Conor Cannon laid a ball back to Langtry, who coming off the right wing hit a sweet half volley which deflected out for another corner. Soon after however, Cobh began to settle into their tactical approach of frustrating the Students.

UCD were given ample time and space to put together patient passing moves as Cobh defended deep and allowed UCD to try and find opportunities and this approach paid dividends as Cobh began growing into the game as the first half wore on. Individual mistakes from UCD and clever counter-attacks from Cobh resulted in dangerous moments for UCD, but Niall Corbet was never truly tested.

Tomas Boyle was forced off through injury and his replacement Maxi Kouogun was instantly called into action blocking Cobh's corner crossed into the box and clearing it to safety. Soon after UCD began coming back into the game as the momentum switched once more, and another close chance came from an O'Neill corner, flicked on by Cannon at the near post but missed by a stretching Leahy at the back post.

After half-time UCD returned to the field a much more determined team. Almost straight away an overlapping Ryan McLaughlin cross fell to Jack Watson whose shot was well saved by the keeper. Cannon got to the rebound but was unable to put it on target.

The next UCD attack saw the breakthrough. Benson ran from midfield at the Cobh defence. After overcoming Jason Abbott's attempted block, Benson's run continued into the box. The Cobh defence all believed Benson had passed the ball to Ryan Swan, who was in an offside position, but the aware Ryan Swan left the ball for Benson to run onto and he was left with a simple finish to the keeper's right.

UCD began to grow in confidence, and although Ryan Goldsmith saw a good effort saved by Corbet, it was Ryan Swan's two chances that were closest to seeing the next goal. The best of those saw O'Neill playing a wonderful ball over the top of the defence out left to Mulhall. He laid it back for McLaughlin to cross perfectly to Swan. His header was saved well by the keeper and Watson was beaten to the rebound by Anthony O'Donnell's well timed clearance.

However it was shortly 2-0 as Swan got his goal but really Cobh only had themselves to blame. The Cobh keeper played the ball short to Jason Abbott, who found himself under pressure from Benson, who nicked the ball from him. Benson was left one on one with the keeper and with support from Swan he squared it to him for Swan to score an easy tap-in.

The LOI July player of the month almost had a second goal, but his shot was cleared off the line after Mulhall's cross left the goalkeeper stranded in no man's land. With just over ten minutes left to play, UCD put the game to bed as captain Robbie Benson scored his second of the night.

Conor Cannon picked the ball up from McLaughlin. Using his strength he shouldered Adam O'Sullivan onto the ground and then continued into the box. Benson arrived into the box for the squared ball and finished with ease ensuring UCD had well and truly wrapped up all three points.

Unfortunately for Cannon, he picked up a nasty looking injury a few minutes later, and along with Boyle's injury it will surely give manager Collie O'Neill a bit to worry about.

The remainder of the game saw little action, although UCD had a few half chances on the counter-attack. All in all, the game generally petered out as UCD convincingly won the game by three goals to nil and now look to focus on one of their games in hand against Athlone Town on Monday evening.

UCD: Niall Corbet; Mark Langtry, Tomas Boyle (Maxi Kouogun 29), Mick Leahy, Ryan McLoughlin; Chris Mulhall, Gary O'Neill, Robbie Benson, Jack Watson; Conor Cannon (Eoin Kirwan 85), Ryan Swan ( Dylan Watts 79)

Subs Not Used:  Conor Mackey, Sean Coyne, Daniel Tobin, Tom O'Halloran

Yellow Cards: Kouogun 67

Cobh Ramblers: Eoin Daly; Adam O'Sullivan (Graham McCarthy 78), Brendan Frahill, James Furlong, Anthony O'Donnell; Stephen Christopher (Bobbi Donoghue 69), Jason Abbott, Chris McCarthy, Ryan Goldsmith (David Curran 81); Stephen Kenny, Shane O'Connor

Subs Not Used: Shane Hallahan, Jacob Buris

Yellow Cards: None

Referee: Robert Hennessey

Attendance: 128

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Robbie Benson