League Preview: Shelbourne -v- UCD

SHELBOURNE

Shels picked up four points out of six in the May Bank Holiday double set of fixtures and will be happy enough with that return which extended their unbeaten run to six games.

The results in the other games conspired against them however and after coming into the weekend in fourth place in the table, they dropped back to sixth, albeit only one point adrift of fourth place Dundalk.

The win over Cork City on Friday and the draw away to Drogheda on Monday leaves them on a healthy 18 points after 13 series of games.

They had to come from behind to secure that 1-1 draw with Drogheda United on Monday, needing an Evan Caffrey super strike from a free kick in the 68^th minutes to deny Drogheda all three points.

Shels played second fiddle to Drogheda for most of that match and were thankful that ex- UCD player Caffrey was able to score his first goal for the club since signing for them in the close season.

Damian Duff spoke to the Shelbourne media team this week in advance of this weekend’s game and said “Last time we played UCD ( a 0-0 draw at Belfield), it wasn’t good enough. We can’t have a repeat of that performance. We all take full responsibility, players, staff, coaches, everyone. We were really poor there.

“I take responsibility for half time and how I spoke to the players, because you could argue they were even worse in the second half than the first.

“But we need to put that behind us now. Our pre match meeting was focused on that game, we looked at all the poor play from the Bowl, not a great watch, it’s so bad its bewildering.

“I’m hoping that might prod them in some way, watching that game you could forget we’ve top players, wonderfully gifted guys. When they play so poorly, I take responsibility, but they should too and I know that putting that right tomorrow is their only focus.

“If they’ve got pride as a team and squad, they should be looking to put that performance right tomorrow night, because the last time we played UCD, the performance hurt and upset a lot of people.” 

“There are no easy games, it doesn’t matter if the team is above or below you in the table. UCD are a good team, Drogheda, as well, good team, you’ve seen everyone who’s gone there and struggled, no doubt we have.

“Our Tolka mentality is must win. It’s always the same. Even Dundalk a few weeks ago, that was our mindset, ‘we must win this’ and I think that’s to plant seed of where we want to go in the league this year.

UCD

The difficult start to the season for the Students shows no sign of relenting as they sit adrift of the rest of the clubs in the Premier Division with only six points on the board with over a third of the season completed.

Cork City, who are having an equally torrid time on their return to the top flight, are the only team keeping them company in the basement area. They are a mere three points ahead of the Students, with the rest of the teams all on double digit points at this stage.

Andy Myler’s men did pick up a very creditable draw against league leaders Bohemians in the Friday night fixture, a late Jake Doyle goal giving them a share of the points. However the quick turnaround was too much for the part timers and they fell to a 2-0 loss at home to Dundalk in the Monday evening fixture.

They were still in with a chance of another draw in the Dundalk fixture being only 1-0 down to a 35^th John Martin goal, but there was to be no repeat of the last-minute drama this time. In fact it was the Lilywhites who scored late on in this game, a 94^th minute strike from Ryan O’Kane making it 2-0 to the visitors.

The Students have had trouble since the start of the 2023 season scoring goals, with 2022 star strikers Colm Whelan and Liam Kerrigan never really adequately replaced.

They have only scored seven goals in the 13 games played, on average one goal every two games, and as Shelbourne having the joint best along with Derry City on 10 goals against defensive record in the Premier League, UCD will have their work cut out for them trying to alter that pattern on Friday night.

Referee: Rob Harvey

MATCH STATS

UCD have only beaten Shelbourne once in the last eight games, that was a 2-0 win at home in July 2021. Colm Whelan (now of Derry City) and Harvey O’ Brien were the goal scorers on that occasion but since then the Reds have drawn four and won two of the remaining seven fixtures.

The games between these two sides have been very low scoring in recent times, with only 1.25 goals, on average, being scored in those last eight games.

BETTING

Shelbourne 3/10; Draw 7/2; UCD 15/2         

PREDICTION

Shelbourne 2 - 0   UCD

Shelbourne

Injured:  Sean Boyd, Conor Kane, Gavin Molloy, Kian Leavy

Doubtful: Mark Coyle

Suspended: Shane Farrell

UCD

Injured: Sam Todd.

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Pohls to continue in Hoops goal as Mannus injury means he misses out for next few weeks https://t.co/sq2LVqGzRApic.twitter.com/HJikypBT7W

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) May 4, 2023