Cheeky eleven-a-side gits

**UCD_4_Life** · 10/04/2003, 11:20 PM

UCD:
Paul Doolin has a job on his hands to keep Houdini acts UCD in the top flight.

The Students were bottom of the Premier Division table for roughly half of last season, but battled gamely and eventually finished, amazingly, in sixth place.

But the results that took them to those heights were achieved with a team including Barry Ryan, Clive Delaney and Robbie Doyle.

That trio - UCD's best players over the course of last season - have joined Shamrock Rovers, West Ham and Bohemians respectively, and Doolin has been unable to adequately replace them.

Goalkeeper Barry Andrews has signed, but the early signs are that Pat Jennings Jnr will take over in goal. No matter which of the two is selected, the loss of Ryan will be sorely felt, while up front they will rely on the Martin brothers John and Robbie, and Sean Finn for inspiration. Heroes must emerge if the Students are to avoid the guillotine.

Verdict: 10th

[Rant]
Now I'm the first to admit that we won't set the league alight but 10th? No-frickin-way.

They said Drogheda would finish 7th, 7th? This from a team who with a better squad last season finished 9th. Taylor, Todd and Dunne were all massive blows and while Scully may be an excellent addition it remains to be seen if he can hold the defence together for the whole season. Other than that they signed two relative unknowns from New Zealand (although Jones may turn out to be good) and a Barrow and Aston Villa reject who had one decent season at Ross County in the Scottish Second Division which is lower in quality than our first.

Doyler wasn't our be all and end all by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, two of our best results came without him (Drogheda and Cork).

While Bazza will be sorely missed Pat Jennings is more than capable of replacing him.

Clive will probably leave the biggest hole but Tony Mac is again capable of replacing him. The addition of Robbie Griffin should also prove to be a good move for us and overall we aren't that much weaker than last year especially if we can bring a few lads back from England next month.[/Rant]