UCD kept it in the family as the Martin brothers, Robbie and John, scored the goals to give them a much needed lift clear of the relegation zone at the expense of a Dundalk side whose performance left much to be desired. The downside to a mistake-ridden first-half was that it brought only one goal in what was a pretty poor spectacle of a game.
Stephen McGuinness got away with an early error before Dundalk were punished for some slack defending on 19 minutes. David Ward conceded a needless free-kick.
College player-manager Paul Doolin touched the ball to Darragh Ryan whose low shot hit Dundalk captain David Crawley in a crowded penalty area to sit up nicely for Robbie Martin to shoot home on the turn from 12 yards. A mistake at the other end two minutes later by Clive Delaney, who failed to clear an innocuous looking Ciaran Kavangh ball into the UCD area, let in John Ryan but, off balance, the striker shot wide.
Again bad marking by the Dundalk defence presented UCD with a glorious chance to extend their lead on 33 minutes, but Robbie Martin headed over from a very scorable position.
Five minutes into the second-half Robbie's pace got him in behind the Dundalk defence down the left and John was in on top of Dundalk goalkeeper John Connolly to force the ball home.
Dundalk got some consolation a minute from time when substitute Chris Lawless scored at the back post from a David Crawley cross but it was far too little too late.
UCD: B Ryan; Cameron, Delaney, McDonnell, D Ryan; J. Martin, Doolin, McNally, O'Donnell; R Martin, Martyn. Subs: Keating for Cameron (64 mins.), O'Dowd for R Martin (70 mins).
DUNDALK: Connolly; Broughan, McGuinness, Callaghan, Crawley; Prizeman, Dunne, Kavanagh, Ward; Reilly, Ryan. Subs: Robinson for Prizeman (56 mins.), Hoey for Reilly (62 mins), Lawless for Ryan (83 mins).
Referee: J O'Neill (Waterford)
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