An early Drogheda goal was enough for all three points in a tight encounter in United Park on Saturday. Both keepers were called upon to make some superb stops in order to keep both sides of the scoreline down.
Pete Mahon rang the changes despite last week's 4-0 win over Bray - Darragh Ryan replaced Derek Doyle and Paul Crowley came back into the team in place of the injured Alan Mahon, with the versatile Conor Kenna moving out to right-back.
Drogheda, as is their style, took the lead with a quick counter attack on just four minutes. With UCD pushing players forward for a free on the edge of the area, the Drogs cleared and broke with Glen Fitzpatrick spearheading a 3-on-2 attack. As Kenna came across to cover, Fitzpatrick moved into the penalty area and squared for the unmarked Declan O'Brien to ram home.
UCD were dealt a further blow on the quarter hour when Darragh Ryan was forced to come off injured, with Derek Doyle taking his place. And Drogheda could have made it 2-0 when, from a short-free kick, Drogheda crossed to the far post only for Conor Sammon to make a last ditch tackle.
UCD, however, came much more into the game, and large parts of the match were played in the Drogs' half, in part also due to their style. When Dan Connor hesitated unduly over a back-pass, Sammon closed him down and panicked Connor into conceding a corner, but the referee awarded instaed a dubious free out. Then Pat Kavanagh shimmied past a Drogheda player in midfield and ran to the edge of the box, only to be taken down by a challenge from behind, but again no free was on offer. And on the stroke of half time, Sammon came forward and tried his luck from 25 yards, but was narrowly wide of the target.
In the second half, it was again UCD who pressed, and Gary Dicker was just over with a free from 20 yards before Drogheda broke quickly from a UCD corner only for Keith Doyle to come to UCD's rescue with a superb tackle.
Shortly past the hour came UCD's best chance of the match when Sammon burst through the Drogs' back line only for Connor to deny him one-on-one; Drogheda eventually scrambled clear. As the game became more end-to-end, Drogheda broke almost immediately and Darren Quigley saved superbly with his foot from O'Brien. UCD then had manager Pete Mahon sent to the stands after expressingly his frustration with the referee rather to vociferously before Tony McDonnell weaved his way past two challenges only to see his strike from the edge of the box clawed away brilliantly by Connor. From the resulting corner, Connor was again to the rescue, clearing off the line with his foot.
It was Drogheda's turn now to break, and they broke clear after Conor Kenna dropped a good ten yards behind the rest of his defene to play the Drogheda attack onside; again, however, Keith Doyle recovered to make a great saving tackle, while Darren Quigley had to tip over after Brian Shelley tried his luck from all of 30 yards before making the save of the match as Zayed arrived late at the far post to, it seemed, tap home a low cross only for Quigley to fling himself across goal and parry away.
Overall, an open game in which UCD may consider themselves unlucky to emerge empty handed, but again, frailties in front of goal cost the Students. They'll need to rectify these problems to get anything out of next week's home game against title-chasing Shelbourne.
UCD - Quigley; Kenna, K Doyle, McNally, McDonnell; Crowley (Harte 87), Kavanagh (P Byrne 75), Dicker, Ryan (D Doyle 15); Finn, Sammon. Subs not used - Hussey, Shortall
Att - c 1500
