Ucd (3) - St Patrick's Athletic (1)

UCD 3 - St Patrick's Athletic 1

New manager Maciej Tarnogrodzki had an immediate impact as UCD manager as the Students stunned St Patrick's Athletic to cruise into the quarter-finals of the Extra.ie FAI Cup.

Their 10-1 record trouncing at Bohemians last week brought former manager Collie O'Neill's time at bottom-of-the-table UCD to an end.

But his former players, under the guidance of promoted under-19s coach Tarnogrodzki, redeemed themselves here with this rousing display against a disjointed St Pat's.

Tarnogrodzki made four changes from that nightmare at Dalymount Park as goalkeeper Gavin Sheridan, Dan Tobin, Luke Boore and Jack Keaney returned to the Students' line-up.

With Ciaran Kelly and Conor Clifford back from suspension, St Patrick's boss Harry Kenny also made three changes with Ronan Hale leading their attack from the start.

Though College started positively, they should have found themselves behind on four minutes from a swift counterattack.

Clifford headed Jason McClelland's corner clear for the run of Darragh Markey who burst forward to play Hale in on goal.

The shot was mishit, but only partially cleared to Dean Clarke whose effort was pushed away for a corner by Gavin Sheridan. Markey's delivery was then flicked wide off the head of Cian Coleman.

The tall Saints midfielder was narrowly off target with another header from a Lee Desmond cross seven minutes later.

Despite that spell of dominance, St Pat's found themselves two goals down by the half hour mark as College hit a purple patch.

For the first, on 21 minutes, Jason McClelland initially won a corner off Desmond on the left. The St Pat's defence then stood indicted as Liam Kerrigan whipped it across for Yoyo Mahdy to score with a free header.

The defending was negligent once again just six minutes later as St Pat's were carved open through the middle.

Richie O'Farrell threaded a ball through for the run of Kerrigan who showed admirable composure to sweep his shot past Brendan Clarke.

And it really should have been 3-0 on 35 minutes as St Pat's were caught far too forward when a poor Clifford free kick was cleared.

O'Farrell sent Mahdy through on goal from his own half. Kelly raced back well to retrieve the situation with a telling block as a sluggish Mahdy pulled the trigger.

Hale should have pulled a goal back for St Pat's on 40 minutes, but drilled his shot wide after latching onto a defensive mistake.

But it was further shocking defending at the other end scarcely a minute into the second half that all but gifted UCD their third goal.

Under no pressure, Kelly miscontrolled a ball off his chest to allow it to run for Kerrigan who skipped on to rifle a low drive the the bottom corner of the net for his second goal of the game.

Though chasing the game, St Patrick's struggled to create clearcut chances until late on as UCD remained dangerous on the break.

Jack Keaney saw a powerful shot fly wide while McClelland shot over the top.

In a late rally, Conor Clifford got a goal back for St Pat's on 81 minutes with a low drive from the edge of the area.

Sheridan then made the save of the game from Glen McAuley's shot before the former Liverpool trainee glanced a header wide.

The only blot on the night for UCD was the 90th minute sending off of midfielder Keaney for a second booking.

© rte.ie

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UCD 3 - St Patrick's Athletic 1

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