UCD 0 - 1 Sligo Rovers

• Colman Hanley
• Sat, Aug 20 2011


Sligo Rovers climbed into second place of the Airtricity League following their 1-0 victory over UCD in the Belfield Bowl on Saturday night.

Sligo claimed the points and climbed above Shamrock Rovers into second place on goal difference following Eoin Doyle’s first half goal after a superb through ball by Richie Ryan, Doyle’s 17th league goal of the season.

Following league defeats last week, both managers chose to make changes. For Sligo, John Russell missed out through suspension, while Matthew Blinkhorn and Danny Ventre came in for Iarfhlaith Davoren and Alan Kirby.

After suffering a 6-0 hammering last week in Tallaght to Shamrock Rovers, UCD made two changes with Darren Meenan coming in for Samir Belhout and Daniel Ledwith replacing Ciarán Nangle who picked up an injury in the pre-match warm-up.

The game came to life in the 12th minute as Robbie Creevy’s cross to Graham Rusk was fed back to Paul Corry, but the former Belvedere youth saw his left footed shot go just wide of Brendan Clarke’s goal. A minute later, Joseph Ndo got Sligo’s first shot on goal, but he saw his effort comfortably saved by Ger Barron.

Despite Sligo enjoying the majority of possession for the rest of the first half, UCD still carried a goalscoring threat and David O’Connor went close to opening the scoring after meeting Dean Marshall’s corner, with Darren Meenan also nearly putting the loose ball in the net.

In the 20th minute, Matthew Blinkhorn was twice denied by some good recovery defending by UCD, first after seeing his shot from a John Dillon cross cleared off the line by UCD skipper Mick Leahy, and secondly after seeing a shot from a great cross by Conor Powell cleared off the line by David O’Connor.

UCD’s Darren Meenan was next to go close, his 25 yard shot forcing a smart save from Brendan Clarke, while at the other end, a Joseph Ndo cross was sliced at the front post by Paul Corry and Eoin Doyle could only head over.

However on 37 minutes later, Doyle made up for his earlier miss by breaking the deadlock with what would prove to be the winner. Richie Ryan’s through ball from deep picked out the run of the onrushing Doyle, who rounded Ger Barron and placed the ball into the empty net.

Paul Cook’s side should really have been two goals in front at the half-time break, but after a fine cross from Conor Powell on the left, Danny Ventre could only flash his header wide of Barron’s post. Robbie Benson entered the game after the half-time break as UCD looked to get back in the game, but in reality, the Students failed to trouble Brendan Clarke in the Sligo goal. Instead, it was left to Sligo substitutes Alan Kirby and Alan Greene to create further chances in the game.

In the 70th minute, Eoin Doyle worked the ball wide to Kirby to cross but his cross was cleared by Paul O’Conor with Matthew Blinkhorn ready to pounce, while seconds later, Aaron Greene’s surging run past O’Conor ended with a shot flashing just past Ger Barron’s left hand post.

An Alan Kirby corner on 83 minutes nearly found Sligo centre-back Gavin Peers, but UCD midfielder Robbie Creevy somehow cleared the danger despite facing his own goal, while Richie Ryan flashed loose ball wide of the goal.

Sligo had late claims for a penalty waved away by referee Graham Kelly despite Paul O’Conor appearing to handle the ball in the penalty area, but the decision had no bearing on the result as Sligo saw out the final minutes of the game to win and move into second place in the league.

UCD: Ger Barron; Seán Harding (Robbie Benson 45), David O’Connor, Michael Leahy (c), Daniel Ledwith; Darren Meenan, Robbie Creevy (Samir Belhout 84), Paul Corry, Paul O’Conor, Dean Marshall; Graham Rusk.
Subs: Mark McGinley (GK), Tomás Boyle, James Kavanagh, Stephen Doyle.

Sligo Rovers: Brendan Clarke; Raffaele Cretaro, Jason McGuinness, Gavin Peers, Conor Powell; John Dillon (Aaron Greene 61), Richie Ryan (c), Joseph Ndo (Alan Kirby 53), Danny Ventre; Eoin Doyle, Matthew Blinkhorn (Iarfhlaith Davoren 84).
Subs: Ciarán Kelly, Derek Foran.

Referee: Graham Kelly

Extratime.ie Man of The Match: Richie Ryan.