UCD manager Collie O’Neill had a message for his players after they slumped to their biggest defeat of the season on Friday night. The Students were beaten 5-1 by Longford to see their lead at the top of the table cut to four points. O’Neill tells o
UCD manager Collie O’Neill had a message for his players after they slumped to their biggest defeat of the season on Friday night. The Students were beaten 5-1 by Longford to see their lead at the top of the table cut to four points.
O’Neill tells our reporter Peter Branigan that next Friday’s visit of Shelbourne will be a test of his players’ character.
‘A lot of these players have big futures in the game. They believe they have the ability to play on a bigger stage. Well, there was a big stage to play on tonight, and now there’s an even bigger one next week.
‘So if the aspirations of these players, when they finish their scholarships, is to go and play on that bigger stage, well next week is the time to really show up and do your work.’
Longford played with massive intensity in the first-half, but they sat deeper after the break and UCD simply couldn’t break them down. It was a fourth defeat of the season for the Students, but O’Neill was making no excuses afterwards.
‘We were second best all over the park tonight, no arguments at all with the result.
‘It’s the first time that it’s happened to us this year. In the previous games that we lost we could point at other factors. Exams, or whatever it might have been. Tonight though, there are no excuses., we just didn’t turn up.’
And the UCD manager says they’re still exactly where they want to be, with one round of fixtures left to play.
‘If you had have said to me, “at the end of the second round of games, I’ll offer you first position and four points clear”, I would have snapped your hand off!
‘So we’ve no need to start moaning, or pointing fingers. We’ll dust ourselves down, and go again. I know I’ve got good players in that dressing room.
‘There’s no need to panic. We’ll dust ourselves down, and we’ve another big game next week to get back on the road.’
Shels will come into the game in better form than UCD, having picked up two more points than The Students in their last five games. Although the Tolka Park side haven’t managed a victory against College since last June.
Pushed on whether the mid-season break had an impact on the result on Friday, O’Neill was unequivocal.
‘It’s always one of those things when you have a bad result in the first game back after the break, you begin to question everything that you’ve done. Did you bring them back early enough?
‘Did you do enough during the break? Should we have given them a break, or not? But I don’t think it’s anything like that. It was just one of those nights that can happen from time to time.’
