Completely overran Pats in the second half, "champagne football" as Kev Ryan put it. Brilliant attacking football. Sammon had a great game, just couldn't bloody finish!! Conan did well when he came on. Only negative is that Mahon was pants in the first half, but thankfully Pats didn't attack enough in the second half to exploit it. Dicker had the Pats centre mid in his pocket yet again, just too good for them at times. Dazza was a bit dodgy, but had a great save from a good Fahey free kick, albeit straight at him, but was at full stretch to push it over the bar.
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UCD and Pat's played out one of the more entertaining in their recent sequences of 0-0 draws in Belfield Park on Friday night. The Students will feel the more aggrived at not clinching all three points as they created the better chances over the 90 minutes and, had forward Conor Sammon been on better form, they would surely have won by a goal or two.
With Brian Shortall not being fit enough to make he starting XI, Pete Mahon reintroduced Gary Dicker to the line-up. Mark Rutherford was fit for Pat's, and caused Alan Mahon plenty of problems down the left wing.
St Pat's were the first to threaten, with a couple of shots from distance before Rutherford easily got past Alan Mahon to set up another chance for the Saints. UCD's first real chance came midway through the first half, when Ronan Finn was set free; he set up Conor Sammon, but the Pat's defence were able to clear for a corner. And on the half hour, the same pair combined to set Finn free, but again the Pat's defence kept the Student at bay.
Ten minutes before half-time, UCD were forced into a reshuffle, with Paul Crowley coming off injured. Conan Byrne came on, and UCD moved from a 4-4-1-1 formation to a more attacking 4-4-2 formation. The change paid dividends as the Students gained the upper hand for much of the remainder of the match.
Pat's did threaten twice after the sub, however - again, Alan Mahon pulled out of a tackle on Rutherford only for Quigly to get the faintest of touches on his cross which took it away from the Pat's men at the far post, and the abll was tapped harmlessly wide. Then it was Quigley's turn to gift the visitors a chance, when he let a cross through his fingers, but the resultant shot was blazed over from a narrow angle.
At the other end, UCD had a penalty shout when Pat McWalter went down under a tackle, only for the referee to deem a fair challenge had been made.
Into the second half, and Dicker had a shot wide from the edge of the area before St Pat's won a free-kick 20 yards out, which was well tipped over the bar by Quigley. The action then moved up to the other end of the pitch, where Conor Kenna was narrowly over with a curling effort from 25 yards.
UCD were dealt a blow when their main creative force, Ronan Finn, was subbed off injured after a challenge on a Pat's midfielder which resulted in a booking for the young College player. And not five minutes later, Finn was joined in the book by Derek Doyle after another challenge from behind.
As the game wore on, College started to create some excellent chances. A ball out to the left found Derek Doyle in acres of space; his centre-ball was flicked on by Conan Byrne to Sammon, who took the ball past his marker, but failed to make a proper connection. Shortly after, Sammon was again played through, but tripped over the ball as he lined up his shot. He nearly redeemend himself with a good volley from the edge of the area which was deflected wide for a corner, from which Alan McNally's shot was blocked away.
However, yet another 0-0 was the outcome of this tie, as UCD stretch their record to three defeats (albeit just four wins) in the last 15 games, with a trip to rejuvenated Waterford to come next weekend.
UCD - Quigley; Mahon, Kenna, Crowley (C Byrne 53), McNally; McDonnell, McWalter, Dicker, Doyle; Finn (Shortall 55), Sammon. Subs not used - Kavanagh, Hussey, Ryan
Att - 750
Originally Posted by DmanDmythDledge
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