Murphy strike seals scrappy City win over the students

By Donncha Noonan | Photo: Kevin Barry Dorney

After returning to winning ways last week with their win over Longford Town, Barry Robson’s side looked to continue in that vein as they travelled to Dublin to take on UCD in the Bowl. In a sluggish and disjointed affair, it was a Cillian Murphy goal that separated the two sides and brought the three points back Leeside.

City made just the one change to the winning side last week as Fiacre Kelleher came back into the starting lineup after his recent injury, replacing Matty Kiernan.

As for the students they made three changes as they looked to improve on their loss to Bray Wanderers last time out. Eanna Clancy, Michael McCullagh and Colin Bolton all made way, being replaced by Sean Murphy, Carl Lennox and Killian Calloice. 

Both teams started slowly but it was the hosts who had the first opportunity of the game after fourteen minutes. A short corner routine between Ciaran Behan and Stephen Mohan allowed the latter to play the ball to the edge of the box to Louis Dignam. Dignam took a touch and lined up a shot, but his powerful effort went straight into the arms of Conor Brann.

City responded with a chance of their own in the thirty-first minute. Ruairi Keating received the ball on the left hand side and slipped a ball down the line for Hans Mpongo. The Dutchman latched onto it and hooked in a cross for Seani Maguire, but the City talisman’’s header went narrowly wide of the near post.

The students weren’t lying down and troubled City again five minutes before half time. A brilliant passing play in midfield from the hosts led to the ball going out left to Stephen Mohan. The winger cut inside on his right foot and aimed a low effort towards the bottom left corner, but the shot just trickled past the post.

That would spell an end to a half where both teams struggled to play expressively on a difficult playing surface, a fact that led to the game being scoreless at half time.

After a disappointing first half, City started the second decently and had a chance in the fourty-ninth minute. A Greg Bolger corner was punched clear by Dara Kavanagh. It fell to Darragh Crowley at the edge of the box, who sent a looping first-time effort towards goal, but his shot could only rattle the post as UCD breathed a sigh of relief.

That relief was only short lived though, as City took the lead three minutes later. Josh Fitzpatrick burst down the right hand side and played a low ball across the box. UCD managed to clear it, but only to Cillian Murphy who angled for a shot, and wrongfooted the keeper by sending a low effort into the far right corner.

UCD weren’t killed by this goal though and they came close to an equaliser in the fifty-seventh minute. Adam Wells found Hugh Smith in the centre of the park, with Smith dinking a ball over to Stephen Mohan on the left hand side. Mohan cut in past the City defence and fired a close range shot goalward, but Conor Brann reacted well to preserve City’s lead.

City should've doubled their lead two minutes later with a big chance. Substitute Conor Drinan received the ball out on the left hand side and delivered a sublime ball into the foot of Seani Maguire. Maguire slid in to try to poke the ball past the keeper, but his effort flew over the crossbar.

The visitors had the final proper chance of the game with eight minutes to play. City recycled a cleared corner to Darragh Crowley on the right hand side. He hooked a ball in that was poked away, but only as far as Charlie Lyons at the edge of the box. He fired an effort towards goal, but Dara Kavanagh did well to get down and push the shot away.

And with that the full time whistle blew in South-East Dublin as City came away with the win thanks to the winning goal from youngster Cillian Murphy. To be totally honest it was a pretty poor standard of football throughout the ninety. The pitch was visibly cut up so maybe that played a part in it but it felt like City ended up playing down to the level of UCD, and that’s no shade on UCD whatsoever as they did well to keep the game as a dogfight for essentially the whole time. To be fair, City did a good job at pressing UCD and trapping them into long balls or losing the ball close to their own goal, something Barry Robson will take as a positive going forward. That being said, I think everyone just wants to get through the season unscathed with an easy title but you can understand the frustrations of fans when games such as these come around that descend into a scrap for three points. Not really a shade on Robson as the job is to win games but games like these are the ones that make you long for next season.

My Man of the Match goes to Conor Drinan. To be honest I was debating not giving it to anyone but I wanted to highlight the impressive cameo from Drinan off the bench. He played forward a lot and looked to get involved and create chances, and that alone qualifies him for this game’s Man of the Match.

City return to Leeside on Friday as they host Athlone Town at the Cross. As for UCD, they’ll look to get their first win in four as they host another Cork club, Cobh Ramblers.