UCD got the show back on the road at Belfield on Friday night with a 1-1 draw with Shelbourne. The Students came into the game off a tough week. Firstly, they were beaten 5-1 by Longford Town, then, star striker Georgie Kelly completed his move to
UCD got the show back on the road at Belfield on Friday night with a 1-1 draw with Shelbourne.
The Students came into the game off a tough week. Firstly, they were beaten 5-1 by Longford Town, then, star striker Georgie Kelly completed his move to Premier Division leaders Dundalk.
Manager Collie O’Neill tells our reporter Peter Branigan that they had one big target against Shels.
‘It was vitally important tonight that we did not lose.
‘We knew the 5-1 defeat to Longford was just a blip. We had a good team meeting on Monday night, when everyone was a bit calmer, and we could deal with it in a more logical way.
‘We had a positive week. We knew about Georgie going to Dundalk roughly six weeks ago. We knew that was happening, and we just got on with the business. You could see the fruits of the week’s work in that performance tonight.’
The Students were under the cosh in the first-half, struggling to get any fluidity in their play. But they improved after the break, and Yoyo Mahdy gave them the lead with a fine finish past Dean Delany.
As the half wore on however, the visitors began to apply more pressure. In truth though, the equalising goal was a poor one from UCD’s point of view. Derek Prendergast was able to meet a corner, unchallenged, and head the ball into the top left corner of Conor Kearns’s goal.
‘We dealt with an awful lot of set pieces, and balls into the box. You deal with 99.9% of them, but there’s always that .1% that you don’t do, and it’s cost us the three points.
‘We were under pressure for different periods in that game, but for the most part I thought we defended really well. When we won the ball back, we had some good patterns of play. Overall, I’m happy enough with the performance.
‘It is disappointing that we couldn’t see it out, but we set out targets in that meeting on Monday night. Games we must get something out of, games we must win, or games that we there’s a possibility of slipping up on. That’s a good point for us, and it’s one chalked off the list.’
The result moves The Students five points clear at the top of the table, with a possible twenty-four points still available this season. Next up is Wexford, who UCD beat 8-0 earlier in the season. O’Neill says they’re not looking past the trip to Ferrycarrig Park.
‘Look, we were much better this week, much more focused. We probably couldn’t have played worse than last week. But it’s about consistency, that’s what’s going to get us there.’
