UCD put on a performance to match the glorious spring sunshine as they accounted for a disappointing St Patrick’s Palmerstown by twenty points in their Evening Herald Senior Football Championship 1st Round tie at the Iveagh Grounds.

A pre-match injury to St Pats’ Cillian McHugh necessitated Robbie Carson’s redeployment as a stand-in goalkeeper and their fortunes slipped further downhill once the action began with UCD confirming their favourites tag with a polished display.

Laois senior Donie Kingston opened the scoring with a 4^th minute free but Brian Carson briefly raised St Pats’ hopes with an excellent solo score from wing-back to level matters two minutes later. It was one-way traffic from that point on however with the students assuming complete control around midfield through Westmeath star John Heslin and John Fitzpatrick and it wasn’t long before they regained their lead when Luke Keaney kicked a fine score in the 9^th minute.

The students continued to press with Heslin availing of fine approach play by Tommy Warburton and Keaney to double his side’s lead at the end of the first quarter with corner forward Lorcan Smith opting to take his point on 16 minutes from close range when a goal looked the more likely outcome.  Warburton continued to attack at every opportunity and from one such sortie deep into his opponent’s half, he was needlessly hauled down with Kingston calmly slotting over the resultant free with then minutes of the half remaining.

Points by the impressive Keaney and a fine solo effort by towering full-forward Matt O’Hanlon ensued before College struck for the game’s opening goal in the 27^th minute.  It followed a smart interception by captain Warburton, who transferred the ball to Keaney, who in turn fed the over-lapping Heslin whose unselfish pass was flicked to the net by O’Hanlon.

The tireless Damien Farren replied for St Pat’s from the resultant kick-out but it proved of scant value as Conor Carthy’s free in injury time ensured UCD held a sizeable 1-8 to 0-2 interval lead. A fortuitous Carthy goal five minutes upon the restart effectively settled the tie as a contest when his long range point attempt deceived the replacement keeper before landing almost apologetically in the back of the St Pat’s net.

By the end of the third quarter, St Pat’s were reduced to fourteen men following the sending-off of Brian Carson for a second yellow card offence but in truth the harsh dismissal had little bearing on the outcome such was the gulf between the sides.

Smith and Carthy added a brace of points as UCD began to exploit a by now ragged St Patrick’s rearguard and Heslin kicked his third from play before his late replacement by Michael Dinneen.  Paul Faughnan added three points for St Pat’s as they strove in vain to keep their hopes alive but Éanna Tiernan’s 50^th minute goal was an inevitable consequence of UCD’s numerical and territorial dominance as they cruised without further alarm into the Last 16.

Scorers – UCD: C Carthy 1-3 (0-3f), M O’Hanlon 1-1, D Kingston (frees), J Heslin, L Smith 0-3, E Tiernan 1-0, L Keaney 0-2, C Boyle 0-1. St Patrick’s Palmerstown: P Faughnan 0-3 (2f), B Carson, D Farren 0-1 each.   

UCD: M McGinley; J Hayes, S Nerney, M Furlong; C Brady, S Redmond, T Warburton; J Heslin, J Fitzpatrick; D Larkin, L Keaney, C Carthy; L Smith, M O’Hanlon, D Kingston. Subs: C Boyle for Larkin (half-time), E Tiernan for Kingston (45), D Maguire for Warburton (50), P O’Hara for Smith (51), M Dinneen for Heslin (52).

ST PATRICK’S PALMERSTOWN: R Carson; P Murphy, B O’Hanlon, D Gallagher; P Keaney, J McDermott, B Carson; D Farren, B Gilbert; D Rushe, J Kelly, F Maguire; P Faughnan, L Dunne, G Kelly. Subs: C Driver for Maguire (37), F Meagher for Kelly (42).

Referee: Brian O’Shea (St Mark’s)