- Gareth O'Reilly
- Sat, Mar 28 2015
UCD lost their third game in a row as a Danny Furlong goal from one of the first attacks of the game gave Wexford Youths a 1-0 win over the Students. For Wexford boss Shane Keegan he will be delighted to have made it two wins from two despite having to spend much of the game defending against the talented young College players.
The game was only 45 seconds old when Danny Furlong popped up to give Shane Keegan’s men an early lead in what was being billed pre-game as a crucial First Division fixture for both sides.
A makeshift back four was sent out by Collie O’Neil for this one with midfielders Chris Mulhall and Greg Sloggett forced to play right back and centre back respectively. This was in part down to four UCD players taking part in the Irish Schools victory over Wales just 24 hours previously.
Despite conceding early on UCD did settle into the game thereafter with Conor Cannon looking lively up front whilst being assisted by Ryan Swan playing just off him.
Robbie Benson made his first appearances of the new season for the College while Mick Leahy was appearing in only his second league game of the season, and therefore that along with the makeshift defence could all be contributed to UCD’s slow start and also sluggish play in much of the first half.
Eric Molloy and Craig Wall were lighting things up for Wexford while on the other hand Furlong began to fade out of the encounter and was reduced to chasing shadows for much of the first half following his early goal. When Furlong did finally get a chance he was thwarted by the onrushing Niall Corbet, on not one but two occasions.
Graham Doyle was not being worked overly hard in the home goal but anytime he did encounter the football it was from a shot that was straight at the Youths keeper, Cannon and then Swan were both found guilty of failing to direct their efforts either side of the shot stopper.
UCD began the second half with a barrage of set pieces all of which were either poorly delivered or were calmly dealt with by Doyle. The Students were not to be disheartened however as the pressure continued to be piled on the Youths defence with it now appearing that it would be the Dublin side that would find themselves on the scoresheet in the near future.
However Youths were benefiting from some ill-disciplined play from the College and it was Johnny Bonner’s cross field free kick that found Molloy at the back post, but his effort smashed off the side netting.
The second half was broken up by a raft of substitutions with the level of play not quite as high as the first half. Both teams failed to maintain possession for any sort of consistent periods with free kicks more often than not ending up being over hit.
Youths were starting to look more and more dangerous on the counterattack as UCD began to push men forward in the final ten minutes. One of these moves culminated in Molloy forcing Corbet into an acrobatic piece of goalkeeping when the Wexford midfielder unleashed a powerful shot from inside the 18 yard box.
In the final minutes of added time Gary O’Neill passed up a golden chance to give the travelling fans something to take home with them. O’Neill receiving the ball on the penalty spot opted to pass rather than convert a simple chance when faced with the goalkeeper. His pass subsequently found an offside team mate and that was the end of UCD’s attempts to recover from conceding that early Furlong goal.
Wexford Youths: Graham Doyle; Lee Grace, Gary Delaney, Craig Comerford, Conor Whittle; Philip Drohan (Conor English 61), Johnny Bonner (Peter Higgins 79), Aidan Keenan, Eric Molloy, Craig Wall; Danny Furlong
Subs Not Used: James Dermody, Ryan Delaney, Dean Broaders, Seamus Houghton, Craig McCabe
Booked: None
UCD: Niall Corbet; Chris Mulhall, Greg Slogett, Mick Leahy, Ryan McLoughlin; Jack Watson (Daire O’Conchubair 65), Jamie Doyle (Dylan Watts 83), Robbie Benson, Gary O’Neill; Ryan Swan, Conor Cannon (Eoin Kirwan 69).
Subs Not Used: Karl Skinner (gk), Dan Tobin, Maxim Kouogun, Samir Belhout.
Booked: Gary O’Neill (70)
Referee: Andrew Mullally
Attendance: 211
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Graham Doyle (Wexford Youths)
