UCD secured a crucial victory in the clash of the top two in Division 1 on Friday night. Two goals from the League’s joint top scorer Georgie Kelly were enough for The Students to take the points. College manager Collie O’Neill tells our reporter Pe
UCD secured a crucial victory in the clash of the top two in Division 1 on Friday night. Two goals from the League’s joint top scorer Georgie Kelly were enough for The Students to take the points.
College manager Collie O’Neill tells our reporter Peter Branigan that it was one of his side’s best performances of the season.
‘I’d say it was an entertaining game to come and watch. I thought the performance was top class. We were really, really good, both on the ball, and off the ball.
‘Any time we lost possession of the ball, we immediately worked to try and get it back. That’s what probably got us the result in the end.’
It was an open game, with both sides creating chances. O’Neill says that his side might have been more clinical, but that the visitors didn’t punish his the lapses.
‘We had a lot of chances tonight. The scoreline should have been a lot more by the time we got the second. Drogheda did have one or two chances to punish us for not taking our own chances.’
‘It’s a good position to be in, but there are no medals handed out at this time of the year.’
The goals were Kelly’s twelfth and thirteenth goals of the season, keeping him level with Shelbourne’s David O’Sullivan, who also scored two goals on the night in a 5-0 win over Athlone.
O’Neill says Kelly is so much more than simply a goal poacher.
‘Two great goals tonight, but as I’ve been saying all season, it’s not just about his goal scoring. It’s how he links the whole play together.
‘It’s his hold-up play, it’s his physical presence. He’s such a link for us transitioning from defence and midfield into attack. He’s been vital to us.’
The result now leaves UCD four points clear at the top of the table, with ten games left to play. O’Neill wouldn’t be drawn on discussing the title, and says there are still plenty of points to be picked up.
‘That’s the kind of League it is this year. Everybody is capable of beating everybody. Cabinteely, for example, beat us. They’ve gone to Longford tonight and beaten them.
‘Most games really are a flip of a coin. There’s not much between the majority of the sides in the Division.’
‘It comes down to who is the bravest to try and gamble. The three points are so vital. There are so many draws in it. There are a lot of games where you’re just going to have to go for it.’
UCD’s final game before the mid-season break is a trip to the north-west on Friday to face Finn Harps.
