Wins for Athlone Town and UCD

Derry City 0 UCD 1

UCD boss Aaron Callaghan heaped praise on his players following last night's shock victory over FAI Cup finalists, Derry City, at a blustery Brandywell.

The result keeps UCD’s Premier Division future in their own hands as they face Drogheda United in their final game next weekend.

“The players have been fantastic, they have continued to work hard and given Athlone’s defeat of St. Pat’s, this win is priceless for us,” said Callaghan.

Forced the watch the game from the stand due to a three-match suspension, the UCD boss insisted that there was work to be done.

“Our Premier Division status remains in our own hands and we still have a tough game to ptrepare for against Bray next weekend. The players were excellent, they could have put the game to bed nearing the end, but it’s been a very good night for us.”

With the wind and the rain spoiling the game as a spectacle, Mark Langtry emerged the UCD hero, the left-back lashing the ball to the Derry net in the 33rd minute.

That goal may have arrived against the run of play but for all their possession, Derry basically failed to penetrate.

Philip Lowry dragged a shot narrowly wide while substitute, Seán Houston, headed the ball straight at UCD keeper, Conor O’Donnell on the stroke of half-time.

After the break Derry continued to dominate with the wind at their backs but despite owning the ball for lengthy spells, they failed to take advantage when in front of goal.

In fact, UCD really should have doubled their lead on two occasions when substitute Colin Crowe and Robert Benson broke raced clear on the counter-attack, but despite the one-on-one situations, both failed to take advantage.

Derry City: Doherty; Kelly, Molloy, S. McEleney, Jarvis; Dooley, McNamee (Houston, 44), Lowry, Timlin; P. McEleney (Duffy, 75); R. Patterson (Curran, 65).

UCD: O'Donnelly; Matthews, Douglas, Ryan, Langtry (Tobin, 59); Mulhall, Creevy (Crowe), Burke, Benson, Molloy; Cannon (Kavanagh, 69).

Referee - T. Connolly (Dublin).

St. Patrick’s Athletic 0 Athlone Town 2

Well-taken second half goals from Philly Gorman and Kealan Dillon kept Athlone Town’s Premier Division survival hopes alive going into the final match of the season.

A first win in 13 matches wasn’t enough to lift Keith Long’s side off the bottom of the table, however, after UCD won in Derry.

Athlone, at home to Bray Wanderers in next week‘s final game, now have to better UCD’s result when the Students host Drogheda United if they are to leapfrog them to avoid automatic relegation and snatch the play-off spot.

A nervous start by Athlone almost saw them concede within two minutes. A misplaced pass by Kevin Knight allowed St. Patrick’s Killian Brennan set up Conan Byrne, but his attempted ball to Christy Fagan was cut out by Town goalkeeper Ryan Coulter.

A frantic last-ditch tackle from visiting skipper Alan Byrne then prevented Fagan from giving St. Patrick’s the lead on 21 minutes.

Athlone relieved the pressure when threatening for the only time in the first half two minutes later; Gorman’s header from Seán Brennan’s inviting diagonal ball bringing an attentive save from Brendan Clarke.

St. Patrick’s remained dominant, though, and both Brennan and James Chambers threatened before the break in the swirling wind and rain.

Knowing both UCD and Bray were winning at half-time, Town had to have a go from the resumption. That they did to duly take the lead with a superb goal on 62 minutes.

Gorman initially worked a one-two with Dillon before Eric Foley laid the ball back to the Town striker who hit a sweet right-foot drive to the top corner from 25-yards.

Dillon should have doubled the lead four minutes later, but, played in by Gorman, his drive was brilliantly saved by Clarke.

The midfielder made amends on 68 minutes. Brennan, fouled by brother Killian, took a quick free to put Dillon in on goal and he made no mistake by firing past Clarke at the near post.

St. Patrick's Athletic: Clarke; O'Brien (Oman, 61), Foran, Browne, Fitzgerald; Bolger; Byrne, Chambers, Brennan (Feely, 72), McGrath (Durrad, 82); Fagan.

Athlone Town: Coulter; Hayes, Prendergast, A. Byrne, Knight; Dillon, Foley, O'Brien, Doyle (Sweeney, 90+4); Brennan (Clancy, 85); Gorman (Rusk, 75).

Referee: Anthony Buttimer (Cork).

Limerick FC 1 Sligo Rovers 0

Limerick FC finished their tenure at Thomond Park with a scrappy, but deserved, win over Sligo Rovers.

Blues owner Pat O’Sullivan is confident the new look Market’s Field will be ready for action when Limerick play their next home game in March.

Neither side could manage a goal in the first half of a dull affair with Limerick getting three good chances but Ian Turner, Prince Agyemang and Rory Gaffney could not find the target.

The second half was only seven minutes old when a superb pass by Patrick Nzuzi was finished off by Gaffney for his 14th goal of the campaign.

Subsequently both goalkeepers, Ali Abass for Limerick and Richard Brush, brought off a succession of great saves with the former tipping over twice from Rafael Cretaro.

Subsequently, Gary Armstrong saw a thundering free come back off the crossbar after 73 minutes and in the final quarter Brush twice came to Sligo’s rescue with smart saves from Lee Lynch and Gaffney, while Shane Tracey hit the crossbar with a superbly struck 25-yard free.

Limerick FC: Abass, Nzuzi, Oji, Leahy, O'Connor, Turner (Tracey 65), Agyemang (Mann 65), Duggan, Djilali, Lynch, Gaffney.

Sligo Rovers: Brush, Conneely, Spillane, McMillan, Ledwith, Cretaro, O'Connor, Cawley, Boylan (Armstrong h-t), North (Keating 67), Zayed.

Referee: K O'Regan.

Galway FC 2 Shelbourne 0

Ryan Connolly and Gary Shanahan grabbed the goals for Galway FC during their SSE Airtricity League promotion first leg play/off at Eamonn Deacy Park.

Galway went in at the break armed with a deserved lead after Connolly converted an 18th minute penalty following Nathan Murphy’s foul on Gary Shanahan.

Shels had chances either side of the interval as Dylan Connolly and Conor Murphy went close to equalising for the visitors.

Tommy Dunne’s tidy Galway outfit crafted opportunities too as Shanahan netted a delightful second with six minutes remaining.

Galway FC: Gleeson; Horgan, Barrett, Walsh, Ludden; Byrne, Sinnott, Connolly; Shanahan, Keegan (Faherty, 82), Manning.

Shelbourne: N Murphy; Gallagher, O'Connor, Desmond, Hand; Dempsey, McDonagh, Donnelly (Duffy, 86); Connolly, C Murphy, Keegan (Russell, 67).

Referee: R Matthews (Westmeath).