UCD beat Finn Harps 3-0 on Friday night to pick up their first win since their return to the Premier Division. The damage was all done in the second-half, as Timmy Molloy, and Richie O’Farrell, with a brace, scored the goals. It’s The Students’ fir
UCD beat Finn Harps 3-0 on Friday night to pick up their first win since their return to the Premier Division.
The damage was all done in the second-half, as Timmy Molloy, and Richie O’Farrell, with a brace, scored the goals. It’s The Students’ first win in the top flight since October 2014, and it lifts them off the bottom of the table.
UCD should been ahead inside three minutes. Kevin Coffey showed great pace to get away from the defenders, but his effort from inside the box was poor, as he pulled it well wide. O’Farrell was unlucky in the 12th minute.
He collected Mahdy’s ball from the left, before turning the Harps defender inside out. But his shot from ten yards was deflected onto the post and wide. For the visitors, Rafael Cretaro smashed over, while Sean Boyd curled an effort towards the bottom right corner from twenty yards.
But Kearns was able to hold the shot. The game got a bit tetchy before the break, and three players saw yellow in a five minute sell, but neither side could break the deadlock. UCD continued to look the more likely to score, with O’Neill smashing the crossbar from a thirty yard free-kick shortly after the restart.
They finally broke the deadlock just after the hour mark. Mahdy’s initial shot from around the penalty area was pushed away by Gallagher, but Molloy reacted quickest to smash the ball home. And the game was safe ten minutes later.
This was a lovely team move, with a nice one-two between O’Neill and O’Farrell. The former feigned to shoot, before playing a through ball to the latter, and the former Pats’ under-19 star finished well across Gallagher.
And it was three with just over five minutes to go. Mahdy crossed for O’Farrell, whose initial shot was blocked by the defender, before he absolutely smashed the rebound home to score his second of the night. The Students’ saw the game out from there to record their third victory over Harps in the last twelve months, and leapfrog the Ballybofey club up to ninth.
