UCD AFC qualified for the semi final of the A Championship with a game to spare thanks to a win against Bohemians and Dundalk and a hard fought draw with Derry City.

The UCD conveyor belt of talent continues apace with some stunning performances along the way proving too much for UCD's opposition time and again.

Faced with an early deficit against Bohemians, UCD turned up the intensity a couple of notches and set about regaining parity and pressing forward from there. Hugh Douglas, Barry McCabe and Danny Ledwith in the engine room in midfield were the catalysts as UCD overwhelmed their opposition. Ledwith sent Stephen Doyle scampering down the wing and his inch perfect ball across the face of the goal was turned in by Tyrone McNelis.

With the game heading towards half time a UCD corner was pumped back into the box by James Kavanagh and it fell to the feet of Cillian Morrison. His instant control set him up to drift past two players, wrong foot the keeper and slot the ball into the back of the net to give The Students a 2-1 half time lead.

UCD's pace on the wings was causing Bohemians immense trouble as time after time a last ditch challenge got them out of danger. Tyrone McNelis was in flying form and his run with 10 minutes remaining in the game set up substitute Clarke who couldn't miss.

With Bohemians put to the sword it was time to take on a strong Derry City side. Both teams settled into a passing rhythm but found it difficult to break down the opposition. UCD were finding space on the wings but the final delivery from Doyle and McNelis was letting the side down. Samir Belhout dropped off the main striker allowing a lot more freedom for his centre midfielders behind and UCD began to get a stronger hold on the game in the second half.

Having waited over an hour for the first goal to arrive, the second arrived almost immediately afterwards. Firstly, the UCD midfield toyed with their opposition with some fantastic passing play before the ball was eventually worked to Cillian Morrison who bundled the ball over the line. Tyrone McNelis made it two minutes later with a sweet strike from outside the box into the bottom corner.

Hard work had given UCD the impressive lead and it was this hard work that saw UCD begin to tire. As the tiredness set in Derry City increased their work rate and this combined with a drop in concentration in UCD's backline saw UCD concede two sloppy goals. The second goal came from a header in the 90th minute of the match with UCD hanging on.

A win against Dundalk and a narrow loss to Drogheda United brought an end to the A Championship fixtures for the league stages and now it is to the semi finals UCD look. With strong performances from the likes of Barry McCabe, Cillian Morrison, Tomas Boyle, Danny Ledwith and Hugh Douglas UCD are looking forward to their next game with anticipation.

A Championship Squad: McGinley, Goulding, Boyle, Kavanagh, Langtry, Doyle, McCabe, Ledwith, Douglas, McNelis, Morrison, Russell, Belhout,