League Preview: UCD -v- Shamrock Rovers

UCD

The Students have the chance to go level with Cork City on Friday night should the Leesiders lose away to Dundalk and the Students beat Shamrock Rovers for the first time in a decade. Kick off in the UCD Bowl is 7.45pm.

Last weekend Andy Myler’s men lost 1-0 away to Shelbourne and felt hard done by that they didn’t take anything from the game at Tolka Park.

They had more of the ball (52%) and more shots (12 to 11) than the Reds but a Shane Griffin first half goal gave all three points to Damien Duff’s Shelbourne.

Rovers Head Coach Stephen Bradley said about UCD that “if you look at their recent games, they've been tight games."

"They have some really good young players and they'll be honest; they'll work hard and have a lot of energy. They lost narrowly last week so we'll know they'll have no fear and they'll come to play. We've got to be ready for that."

The Students hosted the Hoops earlier in the season in the Leinster Senior Cup. Rovers ran out 4-1 winners in that game played in early February.

Donal Higgins got on the scoresheet for the Belfield based team that day.

UCD have conceded the most amount of penalties (4) of any team in the Premier Division this year.

Only Cork City (31) have conceded more goals this season than UCD (28).

Evan Osam has returned from injury and, having played against Shelbourne last week, is set to make an appearance against his former club. He played lined out six times for the Rovers first team in 2014.

SHAMROCK ROVERS 

The Hoops have been particularly strong away from home this season. They drew their opening two games of the league campaign both 1-1 (in Sligo and Drogheda). Since then they have won all four away matches without conceding a goal.

They are facing into two games in four days with Monday’s matches seeing the four League of Ireland teams playing in Europe pairing off. This will give those teams a free weekend between the first and second legs of their opening round of the Champions League/Europa Conference League qualifiers.

Rovers will take on St. Patrick’s Athletic on Monday in the last of a run of three Dublin derbies. The first derby was against Bohemians last week which the Hoops won 2-0 in front of 7,864 spectators - the biggest ever attendance in Tallaght Stadium for a competitive game.

Hoops Head Coach Stephen Bradley, speaking to his club’s media team on the eve of the trip to Belfield, spoke about that derby win.

“It was a brilliant night for the club in terms of the sold-out Tallaght and obviously the result,” said Bradley. “Parts of the game were really, really good, Bohs had one or two spells but in general I thought we were very good.

“I think we controlled the game in the first half for the large majority of it. We were good, but the final bit was a little off. They pushed a lot more bodies forward (in the second half), they had to take more chances as we were winning the game, but I felt we were quite comfortable and actually looked really dangerous in transition. We managed the game really well in the second half."

Bradley was delighted with the performances of his wing backs. Trevor Clarke scored for the third time in four matches with the opening goal of the game on 57 minutes.

"Trevor was really struggling at half-time. He was sick, but he wanted to go and try and play for 15 or 20 minutes. He scored a really good goal and all-round he was good, like he was up to half-time. That shows a maturity in Trevor, and we score from it."

Rory Gaffney scored his fourth of the season eight minutes from time slotting home after Graham Bruke and Neil Farrugia set him up. "Neil was excellent on the night, he created real problems for Bohs and had a hand in both goals.”

Despite UCD's position propping up the table Bradley was keen to stress that his team need to be on their toes against the Students. "You have to respect UCD like you do anyone in the league. If you don't respect any team in his league, you'll get beaten.

“It's the same three points on offer tomorrow as there were last week, and next week so we'll give UCD all the respect they deserve, and we'll be fully focused on our performance in the game."

The Hoops have nearly a full squad to draw upon as Sean Gannon, Sean Kavanagh, Simon Power and Liam Burt are available for selection. Only Dylan Watts is confirmed as missing – the midfielder is not expected to return to action until towards the end of June.

Rovers can got top for the first time this season if results go their way as they are just a point behind the Gypsies in the table and have a superior goal difference. Bohs face Derry City in Dalymount Park on Friday.

Referee: David Dunne

MATCH STATS

UCD have lost their last 13 league games against Rovers with the Hoops scoring 37 goals and only conceding two during that time. It is nine league games since UCD have even scored against the Hoops – that was in a 3-1 defeat in March 2019 when Yoyo Mahdy scored.

The Students last avoided a defeat against Shamrock Rovers in July 2013 when they drew 1-1 in Tallaght when Robbie Benson scored the goal for the Students that day. Their last win over the Hoops came in April 2013 when they earned a 2-0 victory in Belfield.

Danu Kinsella Bishop and Ciaran Behan are joint top scorers for the Students with two goals each. Graham Burke is Rovers’ top scorer with six strikes.

PREDICTION
3-0 away win

UCD

Injured: Mikey Raggett, Mark Dignam, Sam Todd

Doubtful: Unknown

Suspended: None

Shamrock Rovers

Injured: Dylan Watts

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Gary O'Neill on this week's pod discussing the Hoops Dublin Derby win over Bohs: 'It is a bitter bitter one to lose but no sweeter one to win.'https://t.co/qf6lT3MZ6Cpic.twitter.com/4gD8PzMJpi

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) May 10, 2023