Sporting Fingal        4-1        UCD

Sporting Fingal crowned their maiden season in the top flight on Friday night by sealing a place in Europe for the second straight year by defeating UCD at Morton Stadium.

Fingal’s twin terrors in attack, Glen Crowe and Gary O’Neill, each score twice to see of the Students before a crowd of 812 on a night when the cost of admission was discretionary.

It took just three minutes for the hosts to open the scoring when a Conan Byrne corner kick was powered home by the head of Glen Crowe.

Gary O’Neill doubled his side’s lead with five minutes on the clock as Ronan Finn whipped a cross in for the forward to nod home from ten yards.

UCD failed to put Fingal under any meaningful pressure, much to the credit of a defence which had conceded just four goals in the previous five matches.

The only moment of concern for the hosts came from a loose Shaun Williams back past put Brendan Clarke under pressure but the keeper managed to clear his lines with Ciaran Kilduff bearing down on him.

25 minutes in, O’Neill bagged his second of the night when Alan Kirby threaded through a
sublime ball to find Finn who flashed the ball across the face of the goal and O’Neill gladly bundled the ball into Billy Brennan’s net.

The Students first shot on target came near the half time mark when Brian Shorthall worked Clarke.

UCD started the second half brightly and on the hour mark they pulled a goal back. Shorthall forced a save from Clarke once more who pushed the shot wide for a corner.

From the resulting corner, Michael Leahy latched onto Evan McMillan’s header and forced the ball into the Sporting goal to make the score 3-1 to the home side.

The Students continued to push forward in search of a second but Fingal’s defence held strong and their hopes were dashed on 67 minutes.

Byrne delivered a cross to the edge of the box where Kirby flicked onto Crowe. The striker had much to do but unleashed a first-time effort that rose high into the top corner for his second of the evening.

Byrne then had a glorious chance to grab his side’s fifth when he was freed by Finn only for the winger to fire over the cross bar from 15 yards.

At that stage, Fingal looked on course for third spot until Sligo pushed them back into fourth with the aid of a stoppage time penalty winner over St. Patrick’s Athletic.

Sporting Fingal – Brendan Clarke, Kenny Browne, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Shaun Williams, Colin Hawkins, Glen Crowe, Conan Byrne, Ronan Finn, Gary O’Neill, Alan Kirby (Keith Quinn 89 min), Shane McFaul
Subs Not Used – Brian Gannon, John Frost, Darren Quigley, Eamon Zayed

UCD – Billy Brennan, Sean Harding, Brian Shorthall, Michael Leahy, Evan McMillan, Greg Bolger
(Graham Rusk 45 min), Robbie Creevy, Paul Corry, Ciaran Kilduff, David McMillan, Chris Mullhall
Subs Not Used – Andy Boyle, Paul O’Conor, Keith Ward, Ger Barron

Referee – Anthony Buttimer

Attendance: 812