UCD slipped out of the League Cup at the quarter-final stage after a controversial but encouraging 2-1 defeat away to Bohs after extra time. In a match which was rarely played above third gear, UCD matched their top flight hosts for the first half before a rare moment of indiscipline swung the game Bohs' way.
Both teams fielded half-strength line-ups - Bohs had Tony Grant, Robbie Doyle, Damien Lynch, Stephen Caffrey, Dave Morrison, Thomas Heary and Dave Morrison, while UCD had the likes of Robbie Mac, Robbie Martin, Conor Kenna, Tony Mac, Pat Sullivan and Mick O'Donnell, so it was evident that at least both sides were hoping to win, if not go all out to reach the semis. In that regard, UCD's first-half performance was very encouraging, as they played some nice passing football and troubled the Bohs defence more than they were troubled themselves. The best early chance fell to Damien Lynch though, but he somehow put his header from six yards wide of the goal after being picked out unmarked by a perfect corner from the far side.
It certainly wasn't a surprise when UCD took the lead midqway through the first half, though maybe the source was! A free-kick was touched to Conor Kenna, who sliced his shot badly but former Student Robbie Doyle, under pressure from Robbie Martin, got a touch to wrong-foot Matt Gregg in the Bohs goal and put College one up. Martin became not the last College player to require treatment in the incident.
Five minutes later, it could have been 2-0. Damien Kelly beat the outrushing Gregg to a through-ball and went to ground inside the area. Referee Paul McKeon, however, booked Kelly for diving and gave a free out - an odd decision as firstly diving isn't a free-kick offence and second Kelly had no need to dive having beaten the keeper to the ball - all he had to do was run into him and he would have gotten the penalty.
Bohs responded by taking off Tony Grant - who didn't show any obvious signs of injury - and replacing him with Glen Crowe. The move didn't pay any immediate dividends though as Ciarán Foley had the measure of him in the air and indeed Crowe was very quiet throughout. Bohs did come close with a Robbie Doyle free which was fumbled out for a corner, but could have had no complaints with being a goal down as half-time approached. Then, however, a ball over the top found Robbie Doyle apparently yards offside, but as UCD appealed the decision, Doyle turned and shot. Quigley parried away the initial shot, the rebound was blocked, but Davey Williamson picked up the rebound and slotted home. Mick O'Donnell and Pat Sullivan immediately remonstrated with the linesman in a scene reminiscent of the 1999/2000 Cup replay in Belfield (when the linesman flagged for offside only to take his flag down after Bohs had scored), and Micko was booked for his troubles. As the half-time whistle went though - only a minte later - he kept up his protest and was sent off for dissent. Remarkably, at full time, many of the Bohs fans were unaware that we had played the entire second half with only ten men - probably the same people who abused McCarthy after the Spain game!
UCD made a switch at half time to bring on Gary Dickers for his debut in place of Robbie Martin as UCD switched to a 4-4-1 formation, with Colm Kierans the lone man up front and Pat Sullivan floating across the midfield trying to cause problems where he could. Not surprisingly, though, Bohs had most of the play in the half, though stubborn defending from UCD meant that they did little with their man advantage. Meanwhile, Pat Sullivan was causing Bohs' defence problems with his runs, and Stephen Kenny was concerned enough to bring on Kevin Hunt to shore up the ship. Darren Quigley was called on to make two dramatic, if comfortable, saves, while Glen Crowe had a penalty call after colliding with Quigley in the area, but the referee let play go on.
Mid-way through the half, Brian Gannon was on the receiving end of a very heavy challenge which the referee, who offered very little rotection to the players throughout the game, gave as a throw to Bohs. Gannon played on for a minute or two before being stretchered off and taken to hospital for a scan on his knee, with the diagnosis being possible ligament damage and up to a month out. Indeed, during the game, Robbie Mac, Robbie Martin, Conor Kenna, Brian Gannon, Glen Crowe and at least one other Bohs player required treatment - and that was before cramp hit in extra-time - with the result that there were four minutes of injury time in each half.
With extra-time looming, College were hanging on just about, and second half injury time was spent almost entirely in their area, but still the best Bohs could create was a shot which Alan McNally deflected into the side-netting. Extra-time was more of the same, with Bohs not threatening greatly and College looking to hit on the break, before a mildly controversial winner sealed the tie. With Colm Kierans down injured with cramp, Bohs played on, and when Darren Quigley failed to hold the cross from the left, James Keddy was on hand to tap home from six yards, although in truth it's questionable as to how much he knew about it.
Half-time saw an interesting event as, despite the silver goal being in operation for the U-21 League Cup, we played on here, so presumably more brilliant organisation on the part of the FAI there! The first period of extra time, it's worth noting, lasted 14 minutes - wouldn't have made a difference realistically, but another black mark against a highly dodgy refereeing display from McKeon.
UCD tried to press for the equaliser in the second period of extra time, leaving themselves more open at the back, and in the last minute of extra time, it nearly arrived. Damien Kelly sneaked in at the back to head across goal, Alan McNally's poke from three yards was cleared off the line and Robbie Mac, at the far post, just couldn't squeeze the ball home to force penalties.
Overall though, it's not exactly a disaster that we're out of the League Cup, and it was good to see us match a top class team after so many abject away performances in the league - maybe we are being dragged down to the First Division level after all!! Brian Gannon could be out for up to a month, but Seán Finn took part in the pre-game warm up, his knee still bandaged but hopefully a return to the first team is only a couple of weeks away. The defeat means the league game against Dundalk is now down for next Tuesday in Oriel Park.
UCD - Quigley; Gannon (McNally), McAuley, Kenna, Foley; McDonnell, Kelly, Sullivan, O'Donnell; Kierans (Burke), Martin (Dickers). Subs not used - Gallagher, Brophy.
Att - c 600
I think Mahon gave up after the sending off. The substitution of Sullivan was a clear surrender - no offence to Burke, Sullivan was our best player in the second half, and really looked like he could make the difference. Despite not giving a weasel's wedding tackle about the league cup, I'm still disappointed to lose a match that was there for the taking. Can't say I blame Micko for not wanting to be involved in that 'football' match any more though.
The ref deserves a load of abuse for his performance - ignorance of basic laws of football, incompetant time-keeping, bad calls on several relatively clear incidents and turning a blind eye to some injury-inducing tackles (mostly by Bohs) makes his the worst refereeing of a match I've ever witnessed. And in the eL, that's saying something.
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