QuoteHalf-time: Finn Harps 1-1 UCD
.............McHugh2, McDonnell10,
Here's the team courtesy of Harpo via Pineapple who is up in Donegal:
Quigley, Mahon, O'Donnell, Kenna, Shorthall, McDonnell, Hurley, Dicker, McWalter, Martin, Dupuy.
Subs: Gallagher, Gannon, Willie Doyle, Alan McNally (yes!), Harte.
Gannon has come on from somone. Score is 1-1. McHugh for them, Tony Mac for us.
Half-time: Finn Harps 1-1 UCD
.............McHugh2, McDonnell10,
Originally Posted by feo123
So mchugh's goal is even quicker than the one he scored against us in first match at Finn Park.
" I'll go right up to here,
it can't possibly hurt.
All they will find is my
beer and my shirt."
peno...will tempt faith and say GOAL
Martin scored the above mentioned peno and we won 2-1.... 32 points in the bank two games to go. We need something in Longford and then we can breathe easily.
P.S. My friend in Canada who was listening to the game online via Ocean Fm told me that Hurley went off for Gannon.
No! He felt his hamstring tighten in the warm-up and was replaced on the bench by Séamus Long.
UCD are all but mathematically assured of Premier Division football next season after a late Robbie Martin penalty sealed a come-from-behind win at a very boggy Finn Park. The result also leaves Finn Harps facing the drop, and Finn Harps fans were quick to notice the bitter irony that, when they were last relegated on 2000/01, it was a UCD win (over Galway) on the last day which did the damage.
The Students were dealt a blow before kick-off when Alan McNally - named on the bench after being out injured since the Cup Third Round game against Longford in August - felt his hamstring tighten in the warm-up and was repalced on the bench by Séamus Long. However, Tony McDonnell was pushed back up into midfield, while Robbie Martin and Stephen Hurley were back from the defeat against Derry.
For all that, it took just three minutes for Harps to take the lead with a superb strike from Kevin McHugh. Taking down a cross from the left, McHugh turned and volleyed straight into the top corner.
Any hopes or fears that the goal would spark a repeat of the last UCD trip to Donegal - McHugh scored after five minutes and Harps held on for the win - were dispelled when UCD equalised six minutes later. A cross from the right was met by Tony McDonnell, who was allowed to rise unchallenged and head home from ten yards.
UCD continued to attack - Robbie Martin was played in with a ball over the top, but his first touch let the ball run away from him, and the retreating Harps defence managed to fumble the ball back to keeper Gavin Cullen. Two minutes later, Pat McWalter brok free doen the left, but his inviting low cross was fluffed by McDonnell, who also headed an Alan Mahon cross wide when he should have hit the target.
UCD were dealt another injury blow on the half hour, when Stephen Hurley went down and was immediately subbed off for Brian Gannon; the injury is a recurrence of the one picked up against Bohs, but he should be fit to face Longford next week.
After Robbie Martin shot wide after being teed up by Damien Dupuy, Harps had the best chance of the game when Darren Quigley came to the edge of the area to punch clear only to fail to connect with the ball - Chris Breen scuffed his shot at an open goal and Quigley scrambled back to smother the ball just short of the line.
As Harps came more into the game, they had the ball in the net shortly after the break, but the ref had already blown for a foul on Brian Shortall. At the other end, Martin played Gannon through on goal; he squared for Dupuy, but the ball was just in front of the Frenchman and, stretching, he directed the ball wide. Harps then went straight down the pitch, where Kevin McHugh evaded a couple of UCD challenges in the box before letting off a shot which Darren Quigley needed two attempts to hold. Then on the hour, Quigley was in action again when Alan Mahon misdirected his back-header to force Quigley into a full-length save.
Harps continued to press, and Chris Breen and Kevin McHugh should have done better from eight yards, but the UCD defence somehow scrambled away for a corner. From the corner, a header from five yards was somehow clawed away from the line by a flying save from Quigley.
As UCD weathered the Harps storm, they came back into the game - Robbie Martin seized on a poor clearance by Cullen and squared for Dupuy, but the linesman was quick to raise his flag. Then McWalter cut in from the left to set up Gary Dicker, whose shot from 25 yards was headed over the bar. From the corner, Tony McDonnell had a header cleared off the line.
On 85 minutes, the breakthough came when Martin played McDonnell through, and he was taken down just inside the box by Harps' player-manager Anthony Gorman. It certainly wasn't clear-cut, but given the way the referee had been awarding frees all night, there was little surprise when the penalty was given. The drama still built as the ref asked Martin to replace the ball and Martin tried to find a patch of grass which wasn't sunken. However, Martin held his nerve and, 2 minutes after the penalty was awarded, he drilled into the bottom right corner, just beyond the despairing dive of Cullen.
That was the last real action of the match, which more or less relegates Harps and keeps UCD up. The Students can now look forward to next week's tie in Longford with the pressure off and one eye on next season.
UCD - Quigley, Mahon, O'Donnell, Kenna, Shorthall, McDonnell, Hurley (Gannon 29), Dicker, McWalter, Martin, Dupuy (W Doyle 78).
Subs: Gallagher, Long, Harte.
Att - c 700
No. Injured in warm up.
So is he sean bhean bhocht for the season then?
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