UCD 2-1 Longford Town
Oh fooking yeah, that felt good.
Anto Murphy was class for me, a ridiculously good jumper & header, his defending in the last 10 minutes was second to none.
What a run. UCD; cup specialists!!
"I always likened him to a Rolls Royce. You just used him once a week & he'd be flawless"
Townsend on McGrath
We went a goal down and then Tony McDonnell got us back on level terms.
And a Pat Mc Walter header proved to be the winner.
So to all you EL fans who wanted us to put Longford out of the FAI Cup and keep them out of Europe, we did our bit now stop them qualifying for the UEFA via the League.
Well done UCD. Excellent result.
Students dump holders Longford out of cup
Students dump holders Longford out of cup
UCD 2 Longford Town 1
Longford’s two-year grip on the FAI Carlsberg Cup came to an end as they once again threw away a lead.
As in the first game, Paul Keegan put Longford in front on nine minutes when tapping home the rebound after Darren Quigley had parried Gary Cronin’s shot.
Read more at www.breakingnews.ie
The SFAI are the governing body for grassroots football in Ireland, not the FAI. Its success or the lack of is all down to them.
UCD dumped out FAI Cup holders Longford Town in a thoroughly entertaining game on Tuesday night to set up a quarter-final tie away to Bray Wanderers - who lost star striker Éamon Zayed to Norweigan club Aalesund during the week - courtesy of another come from behind win.
UCD made just the one change from the team which had drawn in Longford on Saturday - Stephen Hurley replaced the injured Alan McNally, with Tony McDonnell dropping to centre-back. Longford welcomed back the suspended Barry Ferguson and Dessie Baker, with another former UCD player, Andy Myler, dropping to the bench.
Longford took the lead as early as the ninth minute. Brian Shortall dallied on the ball and was duly dispossessed by Baker; his shot from the edge of the area was parried by Darren Quigley, but only as far as Paul keegan, who had the simplest of tasks to open the scoring for the second game in a row.
UCD nearly equalised within a minute, however - Brian Gannon raced through the middle and played a through-ball to put Pat McWalter and Anto Murphy though on the overlap; however, the runs had been slightly mis-timed, and an offside decision prevented a certain goal chance.
As the game moved from end to end, Dessie Baker put a cross across the UCD goal which was scrambled clear, while Gannon did the same at the other end a minute later. Shortly after, Anto Murphy teed up Stephen Hurley, whose shot from the edge of the area was always curling away from goal, while Darren Quigley was called on to produce an excellent one-handed save from a shot from outside the area. Stephen Hurley was to enter the referee's notebook after a late tackle on Cronin in the centre of the park - all this before 20 minutes had elapsed.
The game quietened down then, with nothing of note happening until Robbie Martin was helped off the pitch with what appeared a similar, if less serious, injury to the one which had hit Alan McNally on the Saturday; Damien Dupuy came on up front.
Three minutes before half-time, UCD were level. Stephen Hurely swung in a free-kick from the right, and Tony McDonnell was on hand to nod home from close range for his sixth of the season to move him level with Robbie Martin at the top of the goalscoring charts. As the game entered injury time, Longford could have restored their lead, but Gary Cronin snatched at a a poor clearance from Darren Quigley and returned the ball straight to the grateful UCD keeper.
The second half took time to get going, but once it did, it proved every bit as entertaining as the first. Approaching the hour mark, former UCD winger Johnny Martin, who was central to many of Longford's attacks, teed up Cronin only for the Town player to stub his foot and miss the shot entirely. three minutes later, Damien Dupuy headed an Anto Murphy cross straight at Stephen O'Brien in the Town goal; his goal-kick had to be headed clear at the other end by Quigley, with Baker lurking.
As Longford gained te upper hand, John Martin blazed over from the edge of the area, Quigley took two attempts to grab a Paul Keegan shot while Dessie Baker went to ground inside the penalty area only to be booked for diving. In between, UCD suffered another injury blow when Mick O'Donnell - who had tried to run off an injury picked up earlier in the half - had to be taken off and replaced by Aaron McEniff. He wasn't long making his mark on the game with a 35-yard effort which flew inches wide, although O'Brien seemed tohave the shot covered.
After another couple of Johnny Martin misses, UCD won a throw midway inside the Longford half; Gary Dicker made a storming run through the middle and was picked out by the excellent Anto Murphy's throw, but Dicker's volley left much to be desired.
Seven minutes from the end, UCD grabbed the winning goal. Murphy crossed from the right, and Podge McWalter was on hand to stoop in front of his man and nod home from close range.
Longford, who hadn't lost an FAI Cup game since Kilkenny City beat them in 2003, pushed hard for the equaliser, which invariably left gaps for the UCD attack to exploit. And with the UCD defence typically immaculate, it was UCD who were closest to scoring in the final few minutes. A hasty Stephen O'Brien clearance went straight to Anto Murphy 30 yards out, but his first touch let him down, while Dupuy broke down the left and cut a low ball back to the edge of the area, where Murphy had his shot blocked down. There was a scare for UCD in injury time when Longford had a scramble on the edge of the College six-yard box, but UCD managed to break through McWalter, whose through ball to Murphy found the winger a yard or two offside.
However, UCD came through three minutes of injury time to secure their win and their palce in their third FAI Cup quarter-final in the last four years, and Longford Town's impressive Cup run of the last two years is now well and truly over.
UCD - Quigley; Mahon, O'Donnell (McEniff 63), Shortall, McDonnell; Hurley, Dicker, Gannon, McWalter; Martin (Dupuy 35), Murphy. Subs not used - Sammon, C Byrne, Gallagher.
Att - 439
Crap attendence again. Was there many away fans?
Absolutely delighted about the result. I may finally get to see my first FAI Cup game in Bray. Considering they will be minus Zayed and all I am looking forward to this one. Getting worried about the inury list though. It now stands at Kenna, McNally, Paul Byrne, Martin and Micko.Is Gannon on the verge of holding down that right wing spot? Every match report I read he seems to be doing well.
Maybe you should get the club to water the pitch to avoid injuries. No excuses, as you suffered as much as us, but we both lost men to what appeared to be due to the pitch being like concrete...Originally Posted by Poor Student
Getting worried about the inury list though. It now stands at Kenna, McNally, Paul Byrne, Martin and Micko.
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
Great win and for once an entertaining game against Longford. Agree about Anto Murphy, he had a great game and challenged really well in the air which is something we've lacked up front this year.
The pitch was horrible looking alright. Don't know what the problem was.
We're not arrogant, we're just better.
The grass was yellow. A lack of water.
No point rolling it unless they're going to water it - might as well roll the N11 as hard as that pitch was last night...
If you attack me with stupidity, I'll be forced to defend myself with sarcasm.
Ah ha, finally the "plan" worked in our favour!
"I always likened him to a Rolls Royce. You just used him once a week & he'd be flawless"
Townsend on McGrath
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