UCD 0-0 Cork City

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

Poor Student

I had a brief chat with Cork's Bosnian player Admir Softic, who was on the bench, during the subs warm up at half-time . I greeted him in Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian and explained that I was Irish. We chatted in English and he said" You don't speak my language like A foreigner. Your accent sounds like you are Slovenian." I had great pleasure in telling him that he speaks English with a Cork accent! :D

why was dicker not on from the start?

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Originally Posted by milltown messer

why was dicker not on from the start?

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dead right, ucd looked by far the more dangerous in my opinion-always seemed the more likely

Good sign of things to come for the rest of the season, despite the lack of a goal. Maybe you are jinkxing us Schumi...

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Originally Posted by milltown messer

why was dicker not on from the start?

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Dropped, apparently for a little bit of an attitude after the recent Ireland U-21 games. ;) Not the first UCD player it's happened to (Clive Delaney springs to mind), but he'll get his place back in the next couple of games. Played very well when he came on, I thought.

pineapple stu

When one of the lads thinks he's a "big time charlie" they need to be taken down a peg. He obviously thought he was indispensible. Getting dropped against the League Champions fixed that idea good and proper.
Pete Mahon's decision was right and the lad did well when he came on.

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Originally Posted by CollegeTillIDie

We chatted in English and he said" You don't speak my language like A foreigner. Your accent sounds like you are Slovenian."

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Slovenians are foreigners.:confused: As far as I know, Slovenians are known for thinking they know some Serbian but actually not having a clue and being awful.

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Originally Posted by Poor Student

Slovenians are foreigners.:confused: As far as I know, Slovenians are known for thinking they know some Serbian but actually not having a clue and being awful.

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Well there are two kinds of foreigners... ex-Yugoslav foreigners and the rest of us :D Besides he was referring to my accent which I took to be complementary cause it least it was in the right Slavonic ball park.

Todays Mirror it says Dicker and Ward are being watched this month by Charlton it seems Curbishley is going to the match when Boh's take on UCD.
I heard during the Pats match he got a bad smack and his ankle was in bits, maybe thats why they had him on the bench. I do love the fact that fans build a player up and as soon as he loses a bit of form they just bring him crashing down.

Jeez i wonder where the Mirror are getting their exclusive...

so what did the cork fans think after the match on friday night Pete?
I have to say I'm getting a bit tired of hearing Richardson's interviews after matches he's so one sided it's become a joke.

He was slating UCD in the Star on Sunday saying we put 10 men behind the ball. Also blamed Setanta tiredness.

Thegit, to be fair, and I've only seen the Pat's and Derry games, Dicker's game doesn't seem as good this season.

I think Charlton's Portuguese scout took in the Madeira tournament so that would explain the interest in Dicker and Ward.

i was at the Pats game and i went to last fridays game because i couldnt be a**ed going to sligo and i still think the lad is a class act, I think he misses McDonnell in the middle with him. Apart from that he's still the best player I've seen playing for UCD and i doubt he'll be there after the summer.

Ohhh and about Richarson I wouldn't worry he thinks every team play with eleven at the back.... How ordinary do Cork look with no O'callaghan, just sit back and watch those cracks start to appear.

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Originally Posted by thegit

I think he misses McDonnell in the middle with him.

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No doubt about it. The whole team misses the Big Mac.

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Apart from that he's still the best player I've seen playing for UCD and i doubt he'll be there after the summer.

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Most natural ability, yeah. Not the best player though. The lad is still only 19 and he's competing in a man's league. He'll grow better with maturity and experience and into a more effective player. At least I hope. Whether or not he's here I'd love to see him get better and better.

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Originally Posted by thegit

I do love the fact that fans build a player up and as soon as he loses a bit of form they just bring him crashing down.

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In fairness, I don't think any of us here are saying that. Just that we've seen it before with other players and that he'll bounce back from it.

Why is this team afraid to score when I'm watching them? :mad:

I haven't seen much of Cork this year so I assume they're usually better than on Friday but they were as bad as I've ever seen a league champion team. The defence looked like they'd never played together before and Behan up front was terrible. I don't know if it was just down to missing O'Callaghan and O'Flynn but Cork never really looked dangerous.

On the Dicker issue, he did well when he came on and hopefully whatever the problem is between him and Mahon will be sorted out. We can't really afford to be leaving an international on the bench long-term.

Richardson seemed to think they should have won. As a neutral at the game I taught UCD could have got all 3 points.

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Originally Posted by thegit

so what did the cork fans think after the match on friday night Pete?

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A lot of people mentioning crap UCD tactics but also acknowledging we played very poorly & I feel that we need to adapt to your tactics at this stage. IMO our passing possession play is great for the big games but against yourselfs & Longford is counter productive as allows you time to pack the defence.

I think missing O'Callaghan & O'Flynn didn't help but we also showed lack of urgency & pace to our game. Also we did not take enough chances to force the game.

Tiredness would have been a factor too as been playing midweek games 4 weeks in a row now...

what ever happened to we played s**t you played well you deserved the point, you could have even nicked it at the end.....ehh pete !

Pete,
I had a read of the thread over on the Cork City forum and I think that you're exagerating the '11 men behind the ball' argument to the extreme. We played 4-4-2, the players all played in the correct position and we took the ball forward when we had it. I don't think it's correct to say that we packed the defence, if anything Ryan, our left back, played very far forward especially in the second half and left a gap behind him.
I don't mean to have a go but I tought the defining feature of the game was how easily Cork gave away posession in the midfield when challenged. Your passing was too often sideways or backwards and too often inaccurate. I tought a draw was about fair and if we had a more experienced striker, or Tony Mac at the end of some of the headers we would have won it.

I hope when Dicker and Tony are both starting again that Cawley moves onto the wing and Podje moves up front.

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Originally Posted by Bald Student

I hope when Dicker and Tony are both starting again that Cawley moves onto the wing and Podje moves up front.

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Cawley was on the right wing wasn't he?

How did people think Woods did BTW. :D

Conan was. Hurley and Cawley in the centre. I think!

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Conan was. Hurley and Cawley in the centre. I think!

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That's right. Slowest forward we've had since Whitmarsh and he's on the wing! We're a bit shy on depth there.

Btw, did Doyle play up front when he came one? I thought Doyle was a winger, and with Podge on the left, why not switch them? Or does Doyle play up front much?

I mean if you look at the lineup there Mahon didn't pick a team to simply defend. Darragh Ryan an attacking full back who can't defend. Podge, an attacking winger/stiker. Cawley, an attacking winger. Hurley in the middle who usually plays as a winger. Conon Byrne, a striker in midfield (how the hell does that work btw?). And two other strikers in Sammon and Byrne. Substitutions were Dicker and Doyle, two attacking midfielders. We played 4-4-2. That was not a lineup sent to pack the defence.

Im not having this tiredness excuse. Are Cork a full time set up? If they are, they should be well able for it. Its not as if its the latter part of the season and they are sayin it's a factor. What about the UCD players who have to get up at 7 or half 7 in the morning and work a full day before playing a match and training. Thats a tough slog too but you never hear of that in papers or from the manager.

As someone once told me, 'Losers make excuses'!

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Originally Posted by bambi

Im not having this tiredness excuse. Are Cork a full time set up? If they are, they should be well able for it. Its not as if its the latter part of the season and they are sayin it's a factor. What about the UCD players who have to get up at 7 or half 7 in the morning and work a full day before playing a match and training. Thats a tough slog too but you never hear of that in papers or from the manager.

As someone once told me, 'Losers make excuses'!

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Well to be fair at least they didn't complain about the cheek of us having the temerity to cause them to drop two points like they did last season when we held them to a draw at Turner's Cross. And Bray had done in their previous home game so like serious noses knocked out of joint. I mean how dare UCD and Bray not roll over and play dead and let Cork win.. the nerve of them? :D

They did. It was in Rico's column in the Star on Sunday, apparently.

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Originally Posted by Bald Student

Pete,
I had a read of the thread over on the Cork City forum and I think that you're exagerating the '11 men behind the ball' argument to the extreme. We played 4-4-2, the players all played in the correct position and we took the ball forward when we had it. I don't think it's correct to say that we packed the defence, if anything Ryan, our left back, played very far forward especially in the second half and left a gap behind him.
I don't mean to have a go but I tought the defining feature of the game was how easily Cork gave away posession in the midfield when challenged. Your passing was too often sideways or backwards and too often inaccurate. I tought a draw was about fair and if we had a more experienced striker, or Tony Mac at the end of some of the headers we would have won it.

I hope when Dicker and Tony are both starting again that Cawley moves onto the wing and Podje moves up front.

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Although ye did play defensively i don't think it was as bad as some make out.
Fact is we were very poor and didn't do enough to beat ye.

The fatigue thing is something Rico talked about even before the league or Setanta started. He didn't want the Setanta so soon because the lads wouldn't have a proper pre-season and would have to go in to playing 2 games a week from the off. Believe the excuse or not its not something he just made up Friday night.

Yes they are full time but if anything the extra games are harder at teh start of the season IMO because youre in the process of becoming match fit. We didn't play Stanta this week and I hope this will show in our performance Friday.

That said we still played well below our ability even if the players were tired. They didn't deserve to win and hopefully this loss of 2 points will spur them to up their game this week.