UCD - Harps 5/9/08

[Sam_Heggy]

How do ye rate yer chances?
We are without Conor Gethins, Aaron Labonte, Marc Brolly, Gary Beckett, Declan Boyle and Corny Gallagher for this one.
I hear that mad hatter Meenan is missing for ye, hows he performing so far? Always looked handy when with us but as I said he's a mad wee hure and needless to say we were glad to see the back of him.

[pineapple stu]

Bray were missing a lot and we still lost.

Meenan looks a good player, albeit from four games (and a nice goal last week). Never realised he was with youz.

I'm hopeful of a win, but you have to be in this position.

Also looking forward to getting out of the *&#!ing rain for a few hours.

[Magicme]

On the Meenan front, he may have been a mad wee hure when he was at Harps but he grew up a lot since and was one of the most disciplined and hard working players ever to be on our books.

[John83]

I don't know how big a loss the guys Harps are missing will prove, but I hope it's a lot, because we really could use a win. It's been a while.

[Sam_Heggy]

Gethins is our top striker, Labonte is our first choice right back, Brolly first choice left mid, and Boyle centre half. We have now been informed that Johnny Minnock (our best player) is struggling with injury and is a major doubt.
C.Gallagher is a squad player while Gary Beckett is a waste of space who could be a top striker but for his fondness of sicknotes.

Oh the Meenan note, If he has calmed down and knuckled down at training then he could be a very handy player. He has plenty of pace and can knows where the net is.

[pineapple stu]

A disastrous season down Belfield way got even worse on Friday night as UCD went down to a crushing 2-0 defeat against Finn Harps, who now open up a four point gap over the Students and the drop. In a match played in awful conditions, a 30-yard cracker and a farcical last-minute goal sealed UCD's fate.

Missing the suspended Brian King and Darren Meenan, UCD brought in Shane McFaul and Ronan Finn, pushing Pat McWalter up front and Shane Duggan out to the left. However, Harps got the hang of the slippery pitch much quicker than their visitors, and the warning signs were there long before Harps' 15th minute opener. Wingers had a field day against defenders unable to turn without slipping, and Conor Kenna in particular was struggling, while crosses in from his flank typically got caught in the swirling wind, making goalkeeping a nightmare as well.

The first real chance came on seven minutes, when Matt Gregg came out of his box to clear, but from the half way line, Harps lobbed wide with Gregg racing back into goal. Two minutes later, Evan McMillan deflected a low cross out for a corner after slack defending, a characteristic of UCD's performance throughout the night, although whether he intended to turn it so close to his own post is another question.

There were only 15 minutes on the clock when Harps scored, and the goal had been coming for most of that time. For all UCD's defensive frailties, the goal came right out of the blue - David Tyrrell picked up a loose ball and let fly from 30 yards; his shot seemed to catch a bit in the wind, but Gregg had no chance as the shot flew over him and in off the underside of the bar.

When, two minutes later, Harps were narrowly wide with a free from 20 yards, the signs were ominous for UCD. To the Students' credit, though, they recovered and started to get well into the game. With wingers the key, UCD fed Shane Fitzgerald as much as possible, and he was soon tormenting his marker regularly. On 24 came UCD's first real chance - Fitz skipping past Malcolm and sending in a good cross which was only narrowly behind Timmy Purcell.

From there to the break, UCD were the better side, with Gallagher having to punch clear another dangerous Fitzgerald cross and two UCD players failing to connect when Pat McWalter sent in a low ball from the right. Shane Duggan went close with a snap shot when Evan McMillan nodded down a free kick to him, again with two players just failing to connect at the far post, while in injury time Timmy Purcell turned his marker from a throw but, from ten yards out and a narrow angle, he shot disappointingly straight at Gallagher.

For all UCD's pressure, it was Harps who went closest to scoring - first, hesitant defending allowed Tyrrell to smack a shot off the underside of the bar, while a loose clearance by McNally saw Breen try a chip, but the ball bounced off the top of UCD's bar.

The second half started off on a similar vein, with Fitz UCD's main attacking outlet, and his cross on 55 minutes forced a good defensive clearance from Harps at the expense of a corner with Shane Duggan lurking. From the corner, Harps cleared and countered straight away, a move which culminated in a curling shot inches wide of UCD's post.

More calamitous defending shortly after saw Harps allowed a volley from the edge of the box; McNally deflected over for a corner, from which a Harps header to the top corner was somehow tipped away by Matt Gregg. From the resulting corner, Gregg outdid himself, with an even better fingertip save to keep out a 20-yard piledriver. When, in the next five minutes, Gregg pulled off two more superb saves - one from a one-on-one and one from a snap shot - and Shane Fitzgerald went off injured, the alarm bells were really ringing.

With 15 minutes to go, UCD finally got some space in the middle of the Harps defence, but Duggan's chip was well wide after being played through by Finn, while the Students' best chance of an equaliser came again from Duggan when he was inches wide after being set up by a neat backheel by Reilly. The former Longford winger, however, was clean through on goals but failed to realise just how much time he had.

As the game entered injury time, UCD won a free 30 yards out on the left wing, and sent everyone bar sub Greg Bolger up in a desperate search for an equaliser. Harps hoofed clear and as Bolger took a step back to control the high ball, he slipped on the greasy pitch. Chris Breen raced through, with only himself and Matt Gregg in the UCD half and, as the UCD team slumped to their knees, Breen calmly rounded Matt Gregg and walked the ball into the net.

The game, which for the neutral was far more entertaining than could reasonably be expected given the conditions, summed up UCD's season quite nicely - despite having more of the ball throughout the match, UCD created precious little in the way of serious goalscoring chances where their opponents notched two goals, hit the bar twice and forced Matt Gregg into four top-rate saves. There's some long days ahead between now and the end of the season.

UCD - Gregg; Mahon, Kenna (Bermingham 80), McNally, McMillan; Finn, McFaul, Fitzgerald (Reilly 60), Duggan (Bolger 83); Purcell, McWalter. Subs not used - Brennan, Shortall.

Att - c 900