UCD went back top of the eircom League First Division table after a flattering 4-1 win over Monaghan. In truth though, the four goals UCD scored were more a reflection of the visitors rather than the Students.
UCD were weakened by the absence through injury of Brian Newguy and Robbie Martin, who had both picked up injuries in the League Cup defeat on Monday night. Pat McWalter moved up front, Pat Sullivan went out onto the wing while Gary Dickers came in for his league debut in centre mid, while John Brophy replaced Gannon on the bench.
In his first two home games in a UCD shirt, Willie Doyle scored within 30 seconds of kick-off. This time, it took him slightly longer - a whole two minutes had elapsed before he ran onto a through ball some 30 yards from goal. He still had some work to do, but he did it in running in to the penalty box and holding off the defender before shooting past Munteanu in the Monaghan goal.
After that, UCD sat back on their advantage, and little of note happened for the next twenty minutes. However, Pat Sullivan could have put College further in front when, after a cross from the left was only partially cleared, his shot from the edge of the area smacked off the underside of the bar.
UCD didn't have long to wait to extend their lead, and Sullivan was involved in the move again. This time, he ran onto a lovely releasing ball down the right-side of the penalty area and cut the ball back across the six-yard box, where Pat McWalter was waiting to stroke home his sixth of the season - and most of them have come when he's been playing up front rather than on the wing!
Throughout the first half, UCD had been moving the ball well in their two-thirds of the pitch, but the final pass had been woefully inadequate in the final third. And in the final few minutes of the first half, they weren't even to get that far as Monaghan pinned the College into their own penalty area. Between a corner or two and some extremely dodgy defending, including some random overhead clearances which simply didn't come off, Anto Murphy finally got the ball in enough space to tuck home into Neil Gallagher's far corner.
Into the second half, and the game actually decreased as a spectacle. Monaghan didn't threaten too much, but far too many of UCD's passes were wayward. Monaghan had a chance when a volley from 25 yards was just wide, though Neil Gallagher was always confident it was going wide, before UCD struck again. Again it was Doyle who scored, and in very similar fashion to the opener as he ran onto a through ball to place the ball past the advancing Munteanu. It was all the more ironic that Doyle, now within three of the all-time UCD record of most league goals scored in a senior season, had actually had one of his least effective games for the Students.
Monaghan, to their credit, kept attacking and could have clawed one back when they found themselves in a three-on-one situation, but Alan McNally made an excellent covering tackle to get the ball back to Gallagher.
The game was sealed in injury time with the best goal of the lot. Gary Dickers won the ball on the edge of the Monaghan area, and the loose ball was driven goalwards first-time by Tony McDonnell, beyond the despairing dive of Munteanu and into the top corner. Even then, it could have been more as Munteanu failed to hold a Dickers shot and only just recovered in time before John Brophy got to the rebound.
So, back on top of the league for a day, but the performances will surely have to improve if we are to compete in the Premier Division if, as looks increasingly likely, we are to make an immediate return to the top slight.
