Maciej Tarnogrodzki had the dream start to life as UCD senior manager as the Students shocked St Patrick's Athletic in the Extra.ie FAI Cup at Belfield on Friday night. Beaten 10-1 by Bohemians last week, and having seen the departure of former boss
Maciej Tarnogrodzki had the dream start to life as UCD senior manager as the Students shocked St Patrick's Athletic in the Extra.ie FAI Cup at Belfield on Friday night. Beaten 10-1 by Bohemians last week, and having seen the departure of former boss Collie O'Neill during the week, not many were giving the Sky Blues a chance. But they were clinical in front of goal, and after holding off an early spell of Pats pressure, they made their move before half-time, and finished the tie off after the break to win 3-1. Cian Coleman and Ronan Hale had chances for the visitors early on, though neither could get their efforts cleanly on target. Yoyo Mahdy broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute. He got his head on a corner, to finish past Brendan Clarke. Liam Scales had to be alert at the other end to prevent an immediate Pats response, as he put in a goal-saving tackle inside his own box. And, just six minutes after they had taken the lead, it was 2-0 to UCD. Jason McClelland split the defence with a simple pass, and Liam Kerrigan stroked the ball into the left corner. There was a big moment in the game just before half-time. Scales uncharacteristically gave it away in his own half, and that left Ronan Hale clean through. But his effort was wide of the left post. College had their third almost immediately after the break. A mistake in the Pats defence gifted Kerrigan possession on the edge of their own box. He still had a lot to do, but he picked his spot, and smashed it home at the near post. Harry Kenny immediately introduced Jake Walker as he tried to give his attack a different dimension, but in truth, UCD more than held their own thereafter. His side did threaten a comeback when Conor Clifford smashed home a beautiful shot from the edge of the box with ten minutes to go. But they couldn't manage the second which might have really spooked the Students.
