UCD -v- Cork City

• Simon O'Gorman
• Fri, Jun 28 2013




UCD

Both UCD and Cork City will be looking to turn over a new leaf when the teams meet at the Belfield Bowl on Friday night, so the chances are that one of them will be going home disappointed.

 

Martin Russell’s Students have had an up and down season so far, starting badly before finding a rich vein of form in mid-season and then falling away again as the break approached. They have certainly been on the end of some dramatic score-lines and a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Derry City back in March seemed to have set the tone for a difficult season.

 

Sure enough, UCD failed to win any of their opening nine league games, a worrying sequence by any standards, but a 2-0 win against Shamrock Rovers kick started a run of four wins and a draw from six league games. Corner turned, then? No, not quite.

 

League leaders St Patrick’s Athletic burst UCD’s bubble in emphatic fashion winning 5-0 in the league and 4-0 in the Cup, all within the space of five days. Three more defeats followed in quick succession including a remarkable 5-4 reverse against Bray Wanderers, all of which will have sent Russell’s team into the mid season break with confidence issues.

 

Whether the rest will have allowed any sense of healing to take place remains to be seen but the mental fortitude of UCD’s young squad is likely to be just as important in the coming weeks as their undoubted ability to play football.

 

Russell will again be without defender Mick Leahy for the visit of Cork City, while fellow centre back, Tomas Boyle, is also on the injured list.

 

CORK CITY

It has been a wearying season on Leeside so far, with Tommy Dunne’s men suffering an uncommon series of late set-backs and then seeming to succumb to the weight of misfortune with a series of displays that appeared to be woefully short on self-confidence.

 

Throughout a campaign in which City have never gotten going, expectations on the terraces have slipped to an alarming level and both the manager and the team are in desperate need of some morale boosting performances.

 

Just three wins from the opening series of eleven league games left City way off the pace of the chasing pack and further defeats to Limerick, Bray and Shamrock Rovers left everyone at Turner’s Cross willing the mid-season break to arrive. The fact that the Rebels signed off with a 1-0 win over Drogheda United will have been a huge relief to all, but a good deal of scepticism remains in the air.

 

A win on Friday night against UCD is not so much a preference as a requirement though Dunne will be without centre backs Dan and Kevin Murray, along with Colin Healy who has recently undergone a knee operation. Brian Lenihan remains on the injured list while young striker Danny Morrissey joins it, having picked up a hamstring injury against Drogheda.

 

Referee: Adriano Reale.

 

 

MATCH STATS

Having conceded 46 goals to date, UCD are the most porous of the twelve Premier Division teams, though they have played a game more than their rivals.

 

The six point difference that separates Cork City (in 6th) from UCD (in 11th) would not bridge the gap between Cork and the team immediately above them (Shamrock Rovers - 7pts)

 

Cork City lost both their matches at the Belfield Bowl last season.

 

 

BETTING

UCD 5/2; Draw 12/5; Cork Evens.

 

PREDICTION

A draw -  1-1.

 

UCD

Injured: Mick Leahy, Tomas Boyle.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.

 

Cork City

Injured: Kevin Murray, Colin Healy, Brian Lenihan, Danny Morrissey.
Unavailable: Dan Murray.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.