UCD, Away, 17/5

[neverfeltbetter]

Would like to see a response after the poor showing against Drogs. Students in decent form by all accounts. Should be a close one, I'll be pessimistic and say 1-1.

Many making the trip?

[poolnallinit]

Wouldn't mind see Taylor shake things up a bit, Gamble is out anyways so he'll have to.
Wouldn't mind Judge to come in, Give Rainsford another shot as well.
I do not want to see Browne or Calla, they've had several chances each now, the both of em, and just haven't been good enough. Not sure if Purcell is injured or not, dunno what the story is. Maybe Nzuzi in there, can't be any worse. Maybe put Tracey back to left full as well.
Something is needed anyways, the last few performances have been poor & the team seems to pick itself every week, so an oul kick up the hole to a few guys isn't a bad thing either.

[lk37oldskool]

I heard Purcell is carrying a groin injury.Agree with previous post though that some players need to be dropped. there are a few who are looking way to comfortable no matter how they play.

[neverfeltbetter]

Was out there tonight. First time in the Bowl, nice ground, friendly staff, Koka noodles at half time. Would guess somewhere in the region of 350-400 at it? Decent atmosphere regardless. Pitch looked a little hard, might explain a few of the injuries.

Started off great. Think it was O’ Callaghan working with Galbraith to get the cross in from the right, UCD probably should have cleared it since it was a bouncing ball, but somehow got to Tracy and he just rifled it home on the volley. Really thought we’d push on from there.

But it just didn’t happen. It was always either Axel or Curran upfront on their own, usually heading down the left wing. Long ball to them, and if they get it ahead of the two defenders around them they’d have to stop, hold, and wait for options. Precious little low through balls, even though one of them had Axel clean through on goal in the first half. UCD got around the park nicely, had some fire. The #19 for them, going down the right, was a constant threat. Limerick were giving away so many frees in their own half throughout the match, that the Students had ample opportunity to float crosses in. Thankfully that appears to be a weaker part of their game, but better teams will relish such opportunity.

The UCD goal was coming for a while, and it was a badly exposed left back position that gifted it, though the CB’s were AWOL when the ball was actually played to Benson in the box. He had time to take the pass, control, turn and one more touch before just burying it past a helpless Ryan. And it happened that way a few more times in the second, but thankfully UCD weren’t good enough to put them away, though there was some scary moments. Bar one bad pass out in the second, Ryan had another good game, and thank God for that because the defence is just so breakable. O’Callaghan was caught for pace frequently, and when Purcell was brought on to help out, well he didn’t last long, going off with an injury around 75 minutes in I think.

Midfield struggled. Galbraith was looking a bit of a threat in the first but grew less and les effective as the game went on. O’Leary wasn’t at his best, and Feeney wasn’t having a good night I thought. UCD played a lot of stupid passes in the centre mid position straight to them, but they were very slow to use that possession and there was plenty of aimless ball played forward high and long for Curran and Axel to waste their time chasing. We had plenty of chances before we started losing players, and Curran was guiltiest, and absolute sitter from a few yards out with the keeper stranded. Got the ball tangled up and UCD survived.

Ref wasn’t great. Tended to blow too often. I could have sworn I saw Dean Clarke come down directly on O’Leary’s shin early in the first. All he got was a yellow while O’Leary hobbled off, and then the ref booked Curran and one of their lads for mouthing and jostling a bit. Totally unnecessary, though Curran was a fierce bad way all game, screaming at his teammates and cursing at the officials. Seemed a bit hesitant to challenge for high balls at times, because of the face injury maybe. Typically similar behaviour from the bench at times, giving out, etc.

Judge came on and could have been a bit of a threat, but he never got the chance. Got hit by a really bad, cynical tackle from a UCD lad bursting forward, should have been happy with the free. But he jumped straight up and squared up to the lad, might have been a clash of foreheads, couldn’t be sure from the angle I was at. But I think in this league, with the way Limerick players and staff have been acting towards refs and other players at times, he was asking for trouble. Straight red. I think he knew coming off how stupid he was, since we’d already gone down to ten after losing Purcell to what looked a bit of a bad injury. Ironically, play restarted with a Limerick free, and Tracy nearly won the game with it, think it hit the outside of the post.

Down to nine, and who was next with the stupidity? Axel goes shoulder first into the back of a UCD lad while being the only Limerick player contesting the ball in their half. Less than 20 seconds after getting a yellow, he chases down another Student and trips up from behind really recklessly. Total nonsense. I don’t know if they were annoyed with the ref, if UCD were aggravating them, but I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid if he got another red for it. Axel played well enough and did his bit in defence when it was called for, but that was a total rush of blood.

Held out in the end, and results elsewhere make it a bit more palatable. But still pretty poor stuff at times. Defence very dodgy, midfield not working right, strikers isolated most of the time, and a really small amount of depth in the team. O’Leary and Purcell now out I would presume, and Judge suspended for the next game. I have no expectation of getting anything off Sligo. Discipline just has to improve.

I saw the Supporters Club bus going the opposite way of the stadium heading in, I presume the driver got a bit lost lads?

[Jofspring]

I was impressed with UCD. We weren't great but weren't awful either. UCD have beaten Derry and Shamrock Rovers and I can see why, all their players are good on the ball. They tightened up defensively and have been much improved.

We really need a goal scorer though. We are getting 4 or 5 decent chances every game but rarely taking them. UCD could have been dead and buried last night before they ever got near us.