UCD 1 Cobh Ramblers 1

Eanna Clancy struck an 89th-minute goal at Belfield on Friday night to deny Cobh Ramblers what would have been a hard-earned victory over UCD in the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division.

After following up an opening day triumph away to Treaty United with a scoreless draw against Kerry FC at St Colman’s Park seven days later, Cobh were aiming to extend their unbeaten start to this season’s second tier.

Before inclement weather caused the postponement of their clash with Bray Wanderers at the same venue a week earlier, UCD suffered a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Wexford in Belfield on February 14. This meant the Students were expected to fight tooth and nail to pick up their first points of the new campaign, but Ramblers more than held their own in the early stages of the contest.

Samuel Bellis was showing some nice touches in attack, while the influence of UCD skipper Ronan Finn – a seven-time Premier Division winner – was largely being curbed. Finn did become more prominent as the action progressed, but scoring chances at either end of the pitch initially proved to be few and far between.

Yet that all changed on the half-hour mark when a free-kick from the right-hand side broke into the path of former Cork City star Cian Murphy, who proceeded to drill a low shot to the back of the UCD net.

A two-time First Division champion with City in 2022 and 2024 prior to joining forces with Cobh in the off-season, Murphy’s goal had his current club in the frame for a second consecutive win on the road.

It was a set-piece from Shane Griffin (whose older namesake was captaining Cobh) that paved the way for the deadlock-breaker from Murphy and he also picked out the Ramblers striker in the box with just six minutes gone after the resumption. His eventual shot was blocked by an opposition defender, but despite still being in the reckoning, UCD were struggling to pose serious questions for their Leeside counterparts.

That was until substitute Adam Brennan found himself inside the penalty area on 63 minutes and Ramblers netminder Timothy Martin had to be at his best to turn his subsequent shot at a tight angle behind for a corner. Although a long-range effort from UCD midfielder Killian Cailloce drifted narrowly wide of the target, Cobh substitute James O’Leary was thwarted by the outstretched hands of Students custodian Kian Moore inside the final-quarter.

Yet the hosts persevered with their challenge as the final whistle approached and just one minute from the end of normal time, Clancy tried his luck from distance and found the bottom right-hand corner of the net to ensure Cobh had to settle for a share of the spoils in the end.

UCD: Kian Moore; Eanna Clancy, Adam Wells, Carl Lennox (Niall Holohan 60), Cathal McCarthy; Killian Cailloce, Ronan Finn, Adam Verdon (Colin Bolton 82); Michael McCullagh, Jake Doyle, Michael Raggett (Adam Brennan 60).

COBH RAMBLERS: Timothy Martin; Shane Griffin, Nolan Evers, Cian Coleman; Jonas Hakkinen (Jason Abbott 66), Dale Holland, Shane Griffin (Niall O’Keeffe 77), Barry Coffey, John O’Donovan; Cian Murphy, Samuel Bellis (James O’Leary 66).

Referee: Jason Moore (Kilkenny).