UCD 1 Derry City 0

Robbie Martin's goal after 10 minutes from a Stephen Hurley pass was our first attack of the game. Derry dominated in terms of possession but not in terms of chances created.And the next real chance fell to UCD on about 40 minutes for Pat McWalter. Radio 1's man at the match was impressed with UCD's passing game and our defending especially in the second half. Nice to see Aidan Lynch back on the field again in a UCD shirt as a second half substitute. To lose Alan Mahon was bad to be able to replace him with Aidan Lynch took the sting out of things completely. Hope Alan won't be missing for too long. I am sure pineapple stu will have his usual comprehensive report here very soon.

Congrats lads ! :) What was the gate ?

Thanks to you another concurrent of Shels faces a gap, looks like Shels and Cork are on the run alone for the moment... Which makes our Setanta Cup tie next Monday even more interesting and hopefully we'll get a decent crowd then...

UCD recorded their second win of the season with a deserved 1-0 victory over Derry City on Friday night. Derry may have come out on top in the possession stakes - particularly in the last 20 minutes - but UCD created more clear-cut chances and were good value for their win.

As expected, Conor Kenna was drafted in to replace the ill Gary Dicker, with Tony McDonnell pushing up into centre-mid to leave the team the same as the one which played the second half against St Pat's. However, Alan Mahon and Anto Murphy were both fit to start, though Mahon came off at half-time.

Neither side dominated the opening exchanges before UCD took the early lead with what turned out to be the only goal of the game. Stephen Hurley played Robbie Martin through - apparently offside, a Derry fan said the UCD bench said - but he raced into the box and slotted calmly under David Forde for his 30th league goal for UCD.

UCD carved out the better chances in the remainder of the period; Pat McWalter gave the Derry full-backs a torrid time and broke free into the box on one occasion only to see his low cross eventually cleared by the Derry defence. Tony McDonnell was inches away from connecting with an Anto Murphy cross from the right, while Robbie Martin beat the keeper to a through ball only to side-foot weakly into the recovering keeper's hands from a narrow angle - in fairness to Martin, the ball bounced up right to his side, which made it difficult to get any power on the shot.

Derry weren't helped by the departure of Kevin Deery midway through the first-half with a knee injury after a tackle on Stephen Hurley, though they did create a couple of chances, notably when they broke in from the right and had a shot turned around the post by Darren Quigley. Or so it looked; the referee, who made several curious decisions throughout the night, gave a goal kick.

In the second half, Derry came more into the game, but it was still UCD who created the better chances - Anto Murphy whipped in another good cross from the right to find Pat McWalter; he sidestepped his marker and set up Stephen Hurley, who dragged his shot well wide. Meanwhile, Damien Dupuy tried his luck from out near the touchline, but his lob carried only a foot or two the wrong side of the post.

As the game wore on, UCD became more and more defensive, with Dupuy in particular dropping back, although it must be said that he contributed with several important tackles and generally ahowed a very high work rate; Pat McWalter swapped roles up front where necessary and continued to give the Derry defence food for thought as UCD's attacks came more often on the counter. It must be said that manager Pete Mahon's substitutions weren't particularly defensive, sending on Adrian Murphy for Pat McWalter with three minutes to go, while Brian Gannon's introduction for Robbie Martin saw Pat McWalter moved up front. UCD's defence, however, was largely imperious, and on the one occasion when Aidan Lynch - on for Alan Mahon at right-back - drifted too far into the centre, Alan Murphy cut into the box unmarked but chose to cut the ball back instead of shooting. Though the defence was kept busy - even Brian Gannon, probably the smallest on the team, chipped in with some vital clearing headers - Darren Quigley only had one real save of note to make when a Derry head met a corner and Quigley had to save well low at the post. The UCD keeper was dominant in the air, claiming a corner off Clive Delaney's head and palming to safety any cross he couldn't claim.

In the final couple of minutes, UCD were pretty much hemmed back into their own half, resorting to hoofing clear only for Derry to return the ball with interest; the Candystripes did have a penalty claim late on, but the referee waved the shout away and College held on to all three points.

UCD - Quigley; Mahon (Lynch 45), O'Donnell, Kenna, McNally; McDonnell, Anto Murphy, Hurley, McWalter (Adrian Murphy 87); Martin (Gannon 75), Dupuy

Att - 523 counted

Thread on the Derry forum about the match.

Allround good performance. Dupuy is pretty good on the wing, does a lot of work there & defends well too. My man of the match was Connor Kenna, he's class & deserves a place in the regular first 11 going on the last 2 games.

Those Derry fans are legends, sang & danced & beat their drums for the whole thing. where are they for the Ireland games?

Went lookin for ya at half time Pineapple but you had momentarily left your lair, I'll catch up at the next match.

We'll be staying up this year anyway.

No real complaints with that as report, bar a few pedantic remarks.

Deery left the field after 9 mins, not "half way through the first half"

You appear to have missed Hutton's chance from a free kick after 23 minutes where his stooping header went over from 4 yards with only the keeper to beat. It was also his header that Quigley saved on the line in the second half.

As for Tuite and his curious decisions :mad:

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Originally Posted by Colie

Those Derry fans are legends, sang & danced & beat their drums for the whole thing. where are they for the Ireland games?

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We're there.....

See you in the Faroes

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Originally Posted by Maribor

Deery left the field after 9 mins, not "half way through the first half"

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Aye, saw that in the paper this morning. Didn't realise it was so early.

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Originally Posted by Maribor

You appear to have missed Hutton's chance from a free kick after 23 minutes where his stooping header went over from 4 yards with only the keeper to beat.

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Don't remember that one...?

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Originally Posted by Maribor

As for Tuite and his curious decisions :mad:

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Been there, have the t-shirt! :p

Ball was on the far side, about 25 yards out with Killian Brennan. Tony Mac lunged in and was booked for the challenge. Header came from resultant free

Remember the tackle alright! One of your more clear-cut yellows! :)

I see you missed me calling Alan Murphy "Adrian Murphy" in the report! Changed it so you can't point it out now!

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Originally Posted by Colie

Allround good performance. Dupuy is pretty good on the wing, does a lot of work there & defends well too. My man of the match was Connor Kenna, he's class & deserves a place in the regular first 11 going on the last 2 games.

Those Derry fans are legends, sang & danced & beat their drums for the whole thing. where are they for the Ireland games?

Went lookin for ya at half time Pineapple but you had momentarily left your lair, I'll catch up at the next match.

We'll be staying up this year anyway.

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It was me that you asked about him :rolleyes:

Yeah, bloody hell those Derry fans were almost militant in their organisation. Everytime I took a look down the other end of the stand there seemed to be a group jumping up and down swinging scarves in circular motion constantly as well as the drumming and the chanting. Almost felt guilty we won sending those lads back to Derry with nothing. :o

I was working in the shop today and had a glance at the match reports in the papers. Most have poorly described the 2nd half in a line which would make you think we had our arses against the wall for 45 mins. I reckon in the first 20 mins of so of the 2nd half we played our best stuff of the game with nice flowing passing at times.

Anyway, I thought Quigley had another solid game getting over his hiccup against Pats. Very safe pair of hands. I think Tony Mac's reappearance in centre mid told as we had a lot more bite in the middle and he broke up a lot of their play and won us the ball.

The way you describe it Stu Damo and McWalter only swapped in the 2nd half. As far as I'm concerned they swapped very early or were even sent out that way from the start by Mahon. Whatever it was it was a great decision. I thought McWalter had a great game up front. He has both pace and strength. I thought he looked so quick in twisting and losing his marker when the high balls came in over the top and he caused them a lot of problems. Far more effective than using him on the left wing. I dunno about Damo on the left wing though, but he did work hard. Also a well take goal by Martin. I think a good solid hard wokring performance from the team in general. Great work by the lads. Now lets continue to toss the form book out the window and lose to Bohs next week. :p

P.S. Stu, you said you weren't at the Pats game last week, are you sure you don't work as their announcer? ;)

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

The way you describe it Stu Damo and McWalter only swapped in the 2nd half. As far as I'm concerned they swapped very early or were even sent out that way from the start by Mahon. Whatever it was it was a great decision.

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Was actually saying during thematch that Damo was playing very much in the Seán Finn mould and could fill that gap for us. I always prefer to see Podge up front alright.

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

P.S. Stu, you said you weren't at the Pats game last week, are you sure you don't work as their announcer? ;)

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Eh?! :confused:

pineapple stu

To bring you up to speed with what that posting was referring to .....
The PA Announcer at Richer got Colm Kierans name wrong on three occasions
The first time calling out the names
the second time just before kick off
and at half time when he was being substituted.
In fact he used three different names one of which sounded like Conor Tierney where I was sitting :D

CTID is spot on. I was alluding to your mistake with Adrian Murphy. Thought you might have heard about the Pats announcer in the fanzine or postings.

Btw does anyone know why Alan Mahon came off? Was it do to with this virus?

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

CTID is spot on. I was alluding to your mistake with Adrian Murphy. Thought you might have heard about the Pats announcer in the fanzine or postings.

Btw does anyone know why Alan Mahon came off? Was it do to with this virus?

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By the way you are alleged to have discouraged someone from attending the UCD v Bohs game next week in an original posting since amended .... how do you plead? :mad:

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Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

By the way you are alleged to have discouraged someone from attending the UCD v Bohs game next week in an original posting since amended .... how do you plead? :mad:

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CTID that was poor quoting on the poster who followed. He quoted me and put his comment inside the quote. I simply copied and pasted the fixtures from the FAI page and said it depended on where he was staying. The next guy, I think a Shels fan quoted me and said he wouldn't bother going to UCD v Bohs without even an explanation. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Maribor

We're there.....

See you in the Faroes

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Isn't the Derry support divided when it comes to national team support ?? No matter if they like it or not, they are in Northern Ireland, would be logical if (part of) their support would support Northern Iron.

Gerrit

Its not really logical that Derry fans support Norn Iron when you consider that the majrity of the population of the city and 99% of Derry's support are from a nationalist background. Because of this Derry supporters tend to consider the republic their home team.

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

CTID that was poor quoting on the poster who followed. He quoted me and put his comment inside the quote. I simply copied and pasted the fixtures from the FAI page and said it depended on where he was staying. The next guy, I think a Shels fan quoted me and said he wouldn't bother going to UCD v Bohs without even an explanation. :rolleyes:

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Well you should have put manners on him then. Thanks for clarification !