UCD's Cobh Ramblers bogey came back to haunt them as another two points were dropped - though, in truth, it was the refereeing more than the visitors who were the cause of the draw. UCD have now beaten Cobh only twice in 16 league meetings, though this draw does take the College back to the top of the table.
The first half was played in sweltering heat and, though the game opened at a decent pace, it soon slowed down and as a consequence, there weren't too many open chances in the half. Hugh Davey missed the best from literally eight inches when he beat the keeper to a Pat Sullivan cut-back but got the ball caught under his feet and the keeper stuck out a hand to reel the ball in. Davey and one or two others appealed in vain for a penalty, though at this early stage, they weren't to know quite what an idiot the ref was. There was some controversy later in the half when the Cobh No 5, who had already been booked, brought down Hugh Davey on his way through to goal - however, the ball came to Robbie Martin, who wasted the advantage. On this occasion, the ref was right not to send the Cobh player off, but it was a close call, and one the Cobh team failed to heed.
However, Cobh had chances too and Darren Quigley, making his league debut in goal for UCD, spilled a through ball to let Cobh in, but the referee gave a soft free-kick out, though the UCD defence were regrouping rapidly in any event.
Cobh took the lead with a minute to go to the break. A Cobh player made a burst through from midfield and was brought down around the edge of the box in what looked (admittedly from the other end of the ground) like a fair challenge. Interestingly, the Cobh players appeared to be lining up for a free before they realised they had won a penalty, which O'Reilly drove past Darren Quigley.
In fairness, Cobh had played well if not spectacularly, and it was hard not to argue that they didn't deserve to be ahead. However, the second half was largely one-way traffic and how UCD didn't win by two or three clear goals is a mystery to all bar the ref. UCD came out all guns blazing and it was only a couple of minutes before they had the first good chance of the half as Pat Sullivan fired just wide after finding himself in space in the penalty area. The excellent Sullivan had a couple of similar chances in the following few minutes, but each time his drive was just to the right of the far post.
Then a cross came in from the right, aimed at Pat McWalter on the far post. McWalter promptly headed to the net, but the linesman gave offside, a curious decision given that the nearest Cobh player was only two yards away and would surely have been playing McWalter on when the ball was played.
Not to be outdone, the referee made the next outrageous decision shortly afterwards. A corner from Sullivan was headed towards goal by Seán Finn only to strike the raised arm of a Cobh defender. Play on, said the ref. Quite why the Cobh player's arm was raised so high is still a mystery, and a penalty and yellow card was surely the only decision.
UCD still threatened to blow Cobh away, and only a smart save from Cuthbert denied Rob McAuley a goal when he tipped over Robbie Mac's header from another Sullivan corner. The game was then held up for some four minutes while Cuthbert received treatment for cramp. Another two corners were headed narrowly over.
There were still only ten minutes gone in the second half, and by this stage, Tony McDonnell had had enough chances to have won three games by himself. However, his shooting boots were most definitely left at home, most spectacularly so when four UCD players beat an appalling Cobh offside trap (or benefitted from appalling linesmanning...) to find themselves ten yards from goal with only the keeper to beat. Tony Mac visibly halted, and when he did shoot, it was straight at the keeper, who tipped over.
The goal UCD had been threatening finally arrived on 69 minutes when Seán Finn picked the ball up outside the area, rounded a Cobh challenge and drove into the top corner from 22 yards. This was Finn's fourth goal of the season, and only one (the penalty against Cobh in the previous meeting) was from inside the area.
UCD were rampant at this stage, with Sullivan destroying Cobh down the right wing. At one stage, he controlled a ball over the top to near perfection, beat a Cobh defender to the ball and was about to run into space when he was hauled unceremoniously back - free in, but no yellow, said the ref.
More controversy wasn't long in arriving - UCD won a free-kick on the left touchline and, as Robbie Mac went to retrieve the ball, he was pushed to the ground by Tony Tynan right in front of the referee, who took no action. Tony Mac in particular was livid at this stage, and was frequently to be seen eyeball to eyeball with a Cobh player after another late challenge.
Throughout all of this, Dave Hill was going mad on the touchline for some unknown reason. However, with about 15 minutes left, he had some reason to be aggrieved as a Cobh player beat UCD keeper Darren Quigley to the ball (though there may have been a foul involved) and headed towards goal only for Alan Mahon to come from nowhere to clear. The referee looked long at the linesman, who didn't flag a goal, but the talk afterwards was that the ball had crossed the line. Hill repeatedly remonstrated with the fourth official - once or twice leaving the technical area in his capacity as a named sub - and could very easily have been sent off himself.
In the last ten minutes, Cobh finally reestablished themselves as an attacking force but never took advantage of some neat counter-attacking. Darren Quigley was out to cover well on a couple of occasions, earning a kick in the face from a Cobh forward just before injury time for which he had to receive treatment. Remarkably, the referee did actually book the relevant Cobh player.
Then further controversy. Cobh launched another attack deep into injury time and had three on two, with one of the two for UCD being Seán Finn. O'Reilly tried to play the ball infield, but Alan Mahon intercepted before the referee gave a free out and booked O'Reilly. The fourth official called the referee over to tell him that he'd already booked O'Reilly and that he should be sent off, which he promptly did (though he took an age to leave the field of play, none of which time was allowed for at the end of injury time by the ref). Afterwards, it transpired that he hadn't been booked, and the ref apologised for the error. Would that he had apologised for all the others...
UCD - Quigley, Mahon, McAuley, Kenna, McNally, McDonnell, Sullivan, Davey (McWalter), Doyle, Martin (Kierans)
Att - 148
