- Gareth O'Reilly
- Wed, Oct 01 2014
Shamrock Rovers recorded a comfortable win over UCD on Tuesday night when goals from Ryan Brennan, Sean O’Connor and a penalty from Gary McCabe secured all three points for Pat Fenlon’s Hoops side.
It did not take long for Shamrock Rovers to take the lead as Ryan Brennan got on the end of a cross to flick the ball beyond Conor O’Donnell after the UCD defence became disorganised following a barrage of early shots from the home side’s attackers.
The second goal came just eleven minutes later and once again it fell to a man in green and white, as Sean O’Connor produced a moment of magic to double The Hoops lead. The winger cut inside his man on the right wing before curling a delightful effort into the top corner of the net giving the UCD 'keeper no hope.
Despite settling down not long after conceding the second goal, The Students were still unable to string any sort of momentous move together as The Hoops continued to venture forward in search of a third.
O’Connor and McCabe combined on numerous occasions throughout the first half causing O’Donnell’s heart to skip a beat on more than one occasion as the pair fired multiple efforts off target.
The best chance for the College came through Robbie Benson as the UCD captain fired the ball off the post from a powerful free kick. Moments before that effort The Students opted to bring on Under 19 striker Kaleem Simon for midfielder Colm Crowe, as the UCD management decided to switch to the two up front option.
Just ten minutes into the second half things got even worse for The Students as Hugh Douglas gave away a penalty after the centre back was adjudged to have handled the ball on the edge of the penalty area. The penalty was then confidently taken by Gary McCabe who smashed the ball into the top corner of the UCD net (see here).
UCD did look slightly improved in the second half it must be said, with Simon forcing Hoops goalkeeper Craig Hyland into action, followed by Conor Cannon doing likewise just minutes later.
Just when it looked like things simply couldn’t get any worse for the College they then lost Cannon to what looked like a serious knee injury. The striker was pushed down the tunnel in a wheel chair as he was unable to support his own weight.
Rovers really should have finally secured their fourth goal of the game when Dean Kelly stormed into the box unchallenged before pulling the ball back to the unmarked Ryan Brennan, his effort was blocked down before substitute Cian Kavanagh, making his Premier Division debut, followed it up with a similarly charged down attempt from eight yards out.
UCD nearly got their name on the score sheet with two minutes to go as first Simon and then Gareth Matthews both recorded good efforts, with the former seeing his effort come back off the post.
Shamrock Rovers: Craig Hyland; Simon Madden, Conor Kenna, David O’Connor, Luke Byrne; Shane Robinson, Patrick Cregg (Robert Bayly 21), Ryan Brennan, Gary McCabe (Cian Kavanagh 75), Sean O’Connor; Ciaran Kilduff (Dean Kelly 67).
Subs Not Used: Conor O’Malley, Robert Cornwall, Ronan Finn, Karl Sheppard.
Yellow Cards: None.
UCD: Conor O’Donnell; Gareth Matthews, Hugh Douglas, Ian Ryan, Sean Coyne; Chris Mulhall (Samir Belhout 69), Colm Crowe (Kaleem Simon 42), Robbie Creevy, Robbie Benson, Aymen Ben Mohamed; Conor Cannon (James Kavanagh 75).
Subs Not Used: Niall Corbet, Daniel Tobin, Gary Burke, Timmy Molloy.
Yellow Cards: Hugh Douglas (55).
Referee: Derek Tomney.
Attendance: 700 (estimate).
Extratime.ie Man Of The Match: Ryan Brennan (Shamrock Rovers).
