O’Neill penalty the difference
SOCCER
UCD………………………………………..1
COBH RAMBLERS………………………0
Daire Walsh
A 58th-minute penalty from Gary O’Neill was the difference in Belfield last night, when Cobh Ramblers suffered a narrow loss at the hands of UCD in the SSE Airtricity League First Division.
Cobh’s gallant promotion bid came to an end last Saturday – when they were defeated 3-0 at home to Cabinteely – and there were four changes to the starting line-up for their penultimate game of 2017.
Skipper Chris ‘Kaka’ McCarthy, Stephen Christopher, Cian Coleman and David Hurley were all drafted in for their latest trip to the south Dublin venue, where they recorded a hard-earned triumph on May 19.
McCarthy was stationed alongside Ben O’Riordan and Cian Kingston in a Cobh back-three, while Kevin Taylor and John Kavanagh were handed wing-back roles.
An early right-sided cross by Kavanagh was expertly controlled by Cian Leonard, and after racing onto his neat lay-off, Christopher produced a low save from UCD netminder Niall Corbet.
With both sides virtually assured of second (Cobh) and third place (UCD) league finishes respectively, it was perhaps understandable that it took a while for the game to spark into life.
UCD’s Daire O’Connor blazed past the target following an intelligent pass from Timmy Molloy (brother of Ireland women’s rugby captain Claire Molloy) on 13 minutes, and although Robert Manley turned in a subsequent delivery from Students full-back Liam Scales, it was ruled out for offside.
As the half wore on, Cobh remained compact in defence, and were also beginning to make an impact in the final-third.
A long-distance effort by Taylor in the 34th-minute was deflected marginally past the UCD post, and from the resulting corner, Kingston headed against underside of the crossbar.
This was a major let-off for the home side, and Corbet was forced to turn away close-range strikes from Leonard and David Hurley as the opening period drew to a close.
The deadlock ultimately remained unbroken at the midway point, but with UCD winger Jason McClelland and Kingston going close at opposite ends of the pitch after the restart, it seemed like only a matter of time before the first goal of the evening arrived.
Indeed, when Manley was put through on goal 12 minutes into the second-half, Paul Hunt was forced to come racing off his line.
The Ramblers custodian fouled the Students attacker just inside the area, and after he received extensive treatment from the Cobh medical team, he was booked by referee Damien MacGraith.
UCD midfielder O’Neill buried the subsequent spot-kick into the back of the net, and after Hunt failed to recover from the knock he received in conceding the penalty, his understudy Michael Sadys was introduced for his league debut.
Cobh were now in a position where they had to chase for an equaliser, but they breathed a sigh of relief when O’Connor was just wide of the mark from a 67th-minute counter-attack.
The Leesiders continued to persevere heading into the final-quarter, though, a powerful right-footed drive by the hard-working Taylor was brilliantly turned away by Corbet.
Karl Caulfield and Ian Mylod joined Sadys from the bench in the closing stages of the tie, and as the final whistle approached, Ramblers were starting to pile pressure on the UCD defence.
The five minutes of stoppage-time announced provided them with the incentive to push forward for a final surge on the opposition goal, but although there was some nervous moments for Corbet and his back-four, Cobh eventually fell to their ninth league reversal of the season.
UCD: Niall Corbet; Darragh Corcoran, Josh Collins, Maxim Kouogun, Liam Scales; Greg Sloggett, Gary O’Neill; Daire O’Connor (Conor Crowley 90), Timmy Molloy (Yousef Mahdy 90), Jason McClelland (Kevin Coffey 73); Robert Manley.
COBH RAMBLERS: Paul Hunt (Michael Sadys 62); Ben O’Riordan, Cian Kingston, Chris McCarthy; John Kavanagh, Stephen Christopher (Karl Caulfield 73), Darren Murphy, Cian Coleman, Kevin Taylor (Ian Mylod 83); David Hurley; Cian Leonard.
Referee: Damien MacGraith (Mayo).