UCD came away with a valuable - and deserved - point against the league champions Cork City in a typically close-fought match. Cork created fairly little over the 90 minutes, and it was UCD who came closest to breaking the deadlock.
There was just the one change from the side which beat Waterford last week - Alan McNally returned from injury to replace goalscorer Brian Shortall, who himself was injured in any event. Ireland U-21 international Gary Dicker was again relegated to the bench in favour of Conan Byrne in midfield.
The first half was a largely tame affair, with UCD's Pat McWalter getting in a couple of dangerous crosses, while Cork had the occasional 3-on-2 break, but failed to get past the remaining UCD defenders to make their advantage count. Michael Devine in the Cork goal was particularly shakey, with his hesitation nearly gifting the Students a chance on more than one occasion -one fluff in particular came straight out to Stephen Hurley but, with the keeper nowhere, Hurley drilled side from outside the box. The best chance of the half fell to Paul Byrne, but his header from 8 yards out was skewed wide.
Two minutes into the second half, UCD were dealt a blow with the loss of Stephen Hurley in midfield, though Pete Mahon was able to choose between bringing on Gary Dicker or Ronan Finn to replace him. Dicker wasted little time in impressing on his return, with a number of nice touches to set UCD attacks in motion. The second half opened up more, with UCD stretching the Cork defence on a number of occasions. Paul Byrne was sent through, but his shot from 20 yards was straight at the keeper, while Conan Byrne got a number of decent crossing positions on the right wing, but ultimately, nothing came of it. Darren Quigley had just the one real save to make when, ten minutes from time, he went full-length to hold on to a header from a corner, while late on, UCD could have snatched all three points when Pat McWalter was put through on the left, but Devine saved and Cork ultimately scrambled away the rebound.
UCD ended the game on the attack, forcing a couple of corners, but won't be too despondent about the 0-0 result, which moves them into the top half of the table. Next up is a slightly easier task in Bray Wanderers at home, with Pete Mahon hoping his team can finally start to get some goals on the board which their play has deserved but not yet turned out.
UCD - Quigley; Mahon (Matthews 88), Ryan, Kenna, McNally; Hurley (Dicker 57), Cawley, C Byrne, McWalter; P Byrne (Doyle 75), Sammon. Subs not used - Clohessey, Finn.
Att - 560
