UCD survived a late Athlone comeback to just about hold on to the three points in a match wihch they'd at one stage threatened to walk away with.
The game was less than a minute old when College took the lead, as Willie Doyle scored his second goal for the College in two games with a right-footed strike from the edge of the area (or so I'm told; I was selling programmes at the time.) It was to be by far and away UCD's best goal of the night!
2-0 duly arrived on 23 minutes, when the Athlone keeper spilled a Seán Finn free-kick, and Robbie Martin was on hand to blast home the rebound before celebrating with a Robbie Keane-style somersault.
Athlone rallied and pulled one back through Niall Donnelly. Yes, that's Hopper Donnelly, the lanky fecker who was with us last season! He met a free-kick with a great header which looped over Gallagher in nets and ducked under the bar.
It should have been 3-1 before the break, but Robbie Martin, finding himself clean through with only the keeper to beat, somehow pulled his shot wide for a goal-kick.
UCD never controlled the game in the way they did in Bray the previous week, but on 53 minutes found themselves 3-1 up. An Athlone player played a backpass to the Athlone keeper, who couldn't pick the ball up or, as he had injured his ankle, kick clear, and while he waited for his defence to deal with the ball, Robbie Martin nicked in, rounded everyone and slotted home. The keeper was immediately substituted and taken away in the ambulance, although it appeared to be nothing more serious than some ankle ligament damage.
4-1 arrived with 70 minutes on the clock - the Athlone defence fell asleep and Willie Doyle was allowed time to chest down a cross and, with the Athlone defence calling for an offside, poke home past the Athlone sub keeper, who was booked for his protestations afterwards.
And that appeared to be that as UCD, although not going all out for more goals, appeared comfortable. Then with 5 minutes to go, Adrian Murphy met a low cross at the near post and turned the ball in between Neil Gallagher's legs to give the Town some hope. UCD appeared to lose all composure after that, and conceded another shortly afterwards as the same player found space in the penalty area to blast home. And with the College hanging on, frequently reverting to hoofing the ball clear, the Town nearly got in for an incredible equaliser only for Hugh Davey to make an important clearance after a long ball had beaten two of him teammates.
So UCD held on for an unexpectedly narrow victory. The hope is that Pete Mahon will have given the players a good old-fashioned root up the hole, and that this will be the last time we'll see such a lead frittered away. Either way, it's a good lesson in concentration to learn ahead of next week's big match in Ballybofey. It's also encouraging to see our two forwards on three goals each after two games, given that up front is where our major weakness has been the last couple of seasons!
UCD -
-----------------Gallagher
Sullivan------McNally-------McAuley-------Davey
McWalter----McDonnell------Finn----------O'Donnell
-------------Doyle----------Martin
Subs - Gannon for Doyle (87 mins)
Not used - Quigley, Purcell, Kenna, Foley
