UCD 2 - 1 St. Patrick's Athletic

UCD registered their third league win in a row and their fifth successive home win through Darren Meenan’s late moment of magic against Saint Patrick’s Athletic on Monday night in the Belfield Bowl.

Meenan’s fantastic late curling effort into the top corner of Gary Rogers’ goal was enough to earn the points for the Students after they had initially lead at half time through David O’Connor’s first half header and been pegged back by Dave McMillan’s second half strike.

Both sides were slow to settle into the game, but it was a weakened Saint Pats side who created the first goal scoring opportunity of the game.  Dave McMillan, starting due to the absence of top Saints’ top scorers Danny North and Daryl Kavanagh, saw his well struck effort from outside the penalty area go straight into the arms of UCD keeper Mark McGinley.

The Inchicore side again tested McGinley in the home goal through strikes from Anto Murphy and Paul Crowley, but on both occasions the keeper was up to the task of gathering the long range strikes of the Saints’ midfielders.

Pete Mahon’s side continued to press for the opening goal as a long Gary Rogers kick from hand found the run of Dave McMillan, but just as the striker was steadying himself to strike, UCD defender Hugh Douglas made a great recovery to back just in the nick of time to the striker a shot on goal.

The pressure continued to mount on UCD’s goal as the Saints showed no sign of letting up and McGinley was called into action by getting down low to tip Derek Doyle’s shot around the post.  McGinley was again forced into action to deny Ian Daly’s shot from the edge of the box on 33 minutes, while minutes later Ian Bermingham’s speculative effort just evaded the top left hand corner of McGinley’s goal.

However the Saints were left to rue their lack of clinical finishing in front of goal as UCD took the lead from their first spell of pressure on 37 minutes.  After initially seeing Darren Meenan’s 30 yard strike tipped over by Gary Rogers, the Saints were guilty of poor defending as Meenan picked up Paul Corry’s short corner before whipping in a terrific cross for the unmarked David O’Connor to head in at the far post.

The Saints were unlucky not to go a further goal behind at half time after a great run by full back Hugh Douglas found Meenan once more, but after creating a yard of space in the box, the midfielder shot just wide of Gary Rogers’ post.

With the Saints in desperate need of an improvement in fortune in the second half, Pete Mahon’s words of inspiration at half-time saw were put into immediate practise as his side were level within two minutes of the resumption.  Some good build up play involving Brian Shortall and Seán O’Connor saw Anto Murphy pull the ball across the box and leave Dave McMillan the simple task of tapping in from just three yards out.

The Saints continued to press and full-back Ian Bermingham spurned a good opportunity after slicing his volley wide after latching onto Seán O’Connor’s cross from the right.  However in spite of their strong start to the second half, the Saints struggled to test McGinley for large periods of play.

Paul O’Conor was next to go close to scoring on 75 minutes as UCD tried to punish the Saints on the break, Dean Marshall breaking down the right before squaring to the midfielder who saw his left footed strike well saved by Gary Rogers.  UCD continued to threaten going forward just 5 minutes later, but again Rogers was up to the task as he saved Paul Corry’s effort.

Stephen Bradley came on to try and give the Saints an extra bit of creativity from midfield, and the change almost immediately worked as his through ball found the run of Paul Crowley, however with only the keeper to beat, Crowley failed to loop his header over the oncoming McGinley.

Pats though were again left to rue their luck as just minutes after Dave McMillan’s goalbound header came off Anto Murphy’s back and bounce clear, UCD managed to nick a late winner.  Another counter attack from Martin Russell’s side saw the ever impressive Paul O’Conor break down the right and find Darren Meenan on the edge of the box.  The winger proceeded to step inside the Saints cover and curl a fantastic strike over the outstretched hand of Gary Rogers and find the top corner of the net.

The late strike gave the Saints little time to reply, and it was UCD who went closest to scoring again as Dean Clarke saw his well struck effort just go wide of the Saints goal.  However the Students’ were not to be denied the points and Martin Russell’s side continue their fantastic end of season run of form.

UCD: Mark McGinley; Hugh Douglas, Daniel O’Connor, Michael Leahy (c), Daniel Ledwith; Dean Marshall (Dean Clarke 77), Paul Corry, Graham Rusk, Paul O’Conor, Darren Meenan; Samir Belhout (Robbie Benson 59).

Subs Not Used: Ger Barron (gk), Mark Langtry, Danny Fallon, Stephen Doyle, Craig Mooney.

Bookings: Daniel Ledwith.

St Pats: Gary Rogers; Brian Shortall (Derek Pender 73), Evan McMillan, Conor Kenna (c), Ian Bermingham; Sean O’Connor, Paul Crowley, Anto Murphy, Derek Doyle; Ian Daly (Stephen Bradley 77), Dave McMillan (John O’Connor 88).

Subs Not Used: Chris Bennion (gk), Jake Carroll, Sean Stewart, Matthew Holland, Matthew Holland.

Bookings: Brian Shortall, Paul Crowley, Anto Murphy.

Referee: Neil Doyle.

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Darren Meenan showed some moments of class and proved the match winner with a fantastic strike at the end and an assist earlier.