UCD sneaked all three points in St Mels' Park on Friday courtesy of Tony McDonnell's third goal in three games. The result was vital on a night when UCD's rivals for the title - Harps and Bray - both recorded victories as well.
The game, paradoxically, was an open one with few chances. UCD, as is their wont in away games this season, looked as if they could open up their opponents at will, but annoyingly didn't, leaving Athlone with plenty of breaks of their own. Willie Doyle did meet a corner with a header which Graham Loughman in the Athlone goal did well to get a hand to, but Robbie Martin couldn't turn the rebound into the net. There were three minutes of injury time at the end of the first half after an injury to Pádraig Moran - seemingly accidental, as no free was given - with Moran suffering possible cruciate knee ligament damage.
Into the second half, and UCD should have had a penalty when Seán Finn was tripped from behind in the area. Robbie Martin played the advantage and his volley from 18 yards was tipped over. Finn was taken off with ankle damage and will be out for about two weeks - he's a definite non-starter for the Harps game. Robbie Martin could also have opened the scoring when picking up on an appalling backpass, but Loughman was out very quickly to block his shot.
At the other end, Robbie McAuley was called into action with an excellent block in one of Athlone's frequent promising openings, but the only goal of the game came on 71 minutes. Tony McDonnell rose highest to head a right-wing cross downwards and beyond the despairing dive of Loughman.
After that, Athlone through on Niall Donnelly as a centre-forward, and UCD reverted to a 4-5-1 formation, with Doyle and Martin coming off for O'Donnell and Kierans. This saw a backs-to-the-wall end to the game, although UCD still countered dangerously, and in the last minute, Colm Kierans found himself with a bit of space to line up a shot from the edge of the area, but he skewed it badly wide. It mattered not in the end, though, as the ref blew up for full-time from the kick-out to keep College three points clear at the top of the table.
UCD - Gallagher; Mahon, McAuley, Kenna, McNally; McDonnell, Sullivan, Finn (McWalter), Davey; Doyle (O'Donnell), Martin (Kierans)
Att - c 250
