UCD hold off Dublin's second half comeback

UCD hold off Dublin’s second half comeback

Wed, 11th January 2017

DUBLIN 1-10 UCD 2-9

The UCD students held off a brave second half comeback from Dublin in Wednesday night’s Bord na Móna O’Byrne Cup duel in Parnell Park.

The Dubs trailed by nine points after 30 minutes of the opening half yet got within a point with a Ciarán Reddin free with less than 20 minutes to play.

A Seán Meade goal with eight minutes remaining sealed victory for UCD despite Dublin battling to the finish with late points from Ross Hazley and Paul Hudson.

The Dubs travel to face the Slaneysiders in Enniscorthy this Sunday (2.0)

Dublin were left in UCD’s wake as the stormed into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead by the 17^th minute.

The students had stretched that to 1-6 to 0-0 before Paul Hudson finally opened Dublin’s account with a 30^th minute point.

UCD's goal came in the 27th minute when Eamon Wallace's point effort came back off upright and Tom Hayes was quickest to react and fired to Evan Comerford's net.

Two minutes before the interval Maitias Mac Donncha scored an excellent goal for the Dubs to see Paul Clarke’s side enter the break 1-6 to 1-1 in arrears.

Points on the restart from Gavin Ivory, two from Shane Cunningham (one free) and Niall Scully eventually ignited this experimental Dublin selection but their first half ultimately cost them dearly.

SCORERS – UCD: E Lowry 0-5 (0-4f), T Hayes, S Meade 1-0 each, J McCaffrey, S Mullooly, L Moran, C McCarthy. Dublin: P Hudson 0-3 (0-1f), M MacDoncha 1-0, R Hazley, S Cunningham (0-1f) 0-2 each, N Scully, G Ivory, C Reddin (0-1f) 0-1 each.

UCD: C Honan; E Murchan. D Maguire, P Healy; N McInerney, J McCaffrey, J Feehan; G Farrell, A McDonnell; S Mullooly, L Moran, E Wallace; E Lowry, C McCarthy, T Hayes. Subs: C Cunningham for Feehan (ht), S Meade for Mullooly (ht), B McGinn for McCarthy (ht), T Maher for Honan (53), J Gillen for Farrell (53), C Nolan for Moran (53), R Cleary for Murchan (53), P Fagan for McDonnell (63), A Hassett for Healy (67).

DUBLIN: E Comerford; J Smith, E O’Brien, R McGowan; N Scully, C Reddin, R Gaughan; J Whelan, R Deegan; G Sweeney, M MacDonncha, N Walsh; P Hudson, M Deegan, S Cunningham. Subs: R Hazley for Whelan (35, black card), G Ivory for Hudson (ht), R O’Brien for Walsh (45), Walsh for M Deegan (47), T Shields for Sweeney (47), Sweeney for MacDonncha (59), S Newcombe for R Deegan (59), Hudson for Cunningham (63).

REF: C Dwyer (Offaly).