Sporting Fingal 1-2 UCD
A late UCD winner prevented Sporting Fingal from going top of the Premier Division when the two promoted sides met at Morton Stadium on Friday night.
Victory would have sent Liam Buckley side's top for 24 hours at least. That wasn't to be but the Ravens remain just three points adrift of the leaders St. Patrick's Athletic with next Friday's visit to champions Bohemians on the horizon.
Sporting Fingal got off to a flying start on their return from the mid season break and put the UCD defence under massive pressure.
It took just four minutes for Fingal to open the scoring when Eamon Zayed first found Conan Byrne who then fed the striker who slotted the ball past Billy Brennan in the Students’ net.
Ronan Finn then came close to adding to his former side’s woes when he struck from all of thirty yards but this time Brennan was equal to the effort.
Fingal continued to press forward and Shaun Williams headed wide before Alan Kirby came even closer with the UCD goal living a charmed life.
UCD began to settle into the game after ten minutes and eventually pushed forward into the hosts’ half.
This extra pressure was rewarded on eighteen minutes when Shaun Williams brought down Dwayne Wilson outside the Fingal area.
From the resulting free kick Andy Boyle levelled the scores when he latched onto Paul Corry’s cross and headed beyond Brendan Clarke.
The Students then forced the save of the game out of Clarke when Wilson weaved past
Lorcan Fitzgerald before setting up Ciaran Kilduff who shot into the top corner only for
Clarke to knock the ball over.
Then with just minutes remaining in the half Evan McMillan saw his shot cleared off the line by Fitzgerald which ensured the game remained 1-1 at the break.
Fingal got the second half under way on the attack and Fitzgerald came close to working
Brennan when he struck his shot just wide of the post.
Glen Crowe then found Kirby with a pin point cross. With no space to work the midfielder slid the ball to Conan Byrne who swivelled and shot narrowly wide.
Kirby then forced a great save from Brennan when he broke free and weaved his way through the Students back four. His shot seemed destined for the bottom corner only for Brennan to tap it wide.
UCD continued to frustrate Kirby when he latched onto Ronan Finn’s ball into the box only for Evan McMillan to deflect the shot out for a corner.
Boyle then nearly turned to villain when he blocked Finn’s cross into the post of his own goal with Brennan left flat-footed.
Neither side had any meaningful efforts on goal in the remaining fifteen minutes despite both managers ringing the changes.
But with just three minutes left on the clock Evan McMillan gave UCD an unlikely lead when he headed home a Brian Shorthall corner.
Shaun Williams came agonisingly close to stealing a draw when he just missed a long ball from Fitzgerald.
Sporting Fingal (4-3-3): Clarke; James, Gannon, Williams, Fitzgerald; Finn, McFaul, Kirby (Barrett 88); C. Byrne, Zayed (Quinn 80), Crowe.
UCD (4-4-1-1): Brennan, Shorthall (Harding 70), Boyle, E. McMillan, Nangle; Wilson, Corry (O'Conor 83), Creavy (Roche 75), D. McMillan; Mulhall; Kilduff.
Referee: G. Kelly (Cork).