St Pat's Ath 0 (El Khebir s/o 17) UCD 0
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With news of Drogheda’s surprising 2-0 win over Bohemians leaving the Students six points behind the County Louth side, and just a point above bottom side Derry, UCD look likely to feature in the relegation/promotion play-offs into December.
Pete Mahon’s side have failed to find their scoring touch with great regularity this season, with many of those draws needing to be turned into wins for their Premier Division survival to be secured. Tonight they had the chances, especially after Pat’s French defender Karim El Khebir decided to lunge in on Robert McAuley on 16 minutes, with Dublin referee Declan Hanney showing the Saints man a straight red card.
It was a tough opening with both Alan McNally of UCD and Pat’s Paul Donnelly booked, and Clive Delaney, a former UCD stalwart being hacked down on six minutes by Gavin Whelan.
UCD had a number of free headers in the first half, but arguably their best chances fell to joint top scorer Robbie Griffin as a move involving Northern Ireland U21 Hugh Davey and Darragh Ryan seeing the striker volley over from ten yards on 21 minutes.
A cross from John Martin almost saw Griffin head the lead goal but the striker’s free header went wide. Paul Rose put Gary McPhee through for Pat’s on 37 minutes, but a poor first touch saw UCD stopper Patrick Jennings claim the ball.
The second half saw little goalmouth action but again Griffin was at the heart of UCD’s best attacks. He bulldozed his way through two minutes from time, to find Robbie Martin, younger brother of John, in space but his ten-yard effort blazed over.
The result sees Pat’s remain in mid-table, after their sixteenth league draw of the season.