On Friday night Russell’s young guns finally put pay to all that potential with a fine win against the current FAI Ford Cup holders Sligo Rovers thanks to goals from Robbie Benson and Graham Rusk in the UCD Bowl.

The philosophy of UCD AFC under Martin Russell has always been to play good football. His players are taught to keep the ball on the deck and knock it around, this in conjugation with the fact that UCD have relied heavily on youth this season has meant the students have shown plenty of potential but lacked tangible results.

In truth Sligo Rovers could have not picked a worse time to travel to the Bowl, with no wins in three league games. UCD would have been extremely confident going into this game with strong performances against Pat’s and Shamrock Rovers in the previous rounds as well as their hard earned win against Drogheda in the EA Sports Cup second round.

Russell stuck with his usual formation of 4-5-1 with leading goal scorer Graham Rusk leading the line, Robbie Benson and Yael Haro where the only two changes from their trip to Shamrock Rovers.

UCD started the game confidently and were ahead within eight minutes. After good work from Marshall down the right Graham Rusk had his header tipped over the bar by Brendan Clarke in the Sligo goal.

From the resulting corner Robbie Benson managed to beat his marker, Jason McGuinness, to power in a bullet of a header that left Clarke with no chance.

The early goal gave the UCD players the confidence to take the game to their opponents, pressing high up the pitch they refused to allow Sligo to play the ball around and harried after every pass.

Going forward the students looked dangerous as well; Rusk beat three players after a nice one two with Benson but his weak shot was saved easily by Clarke.

The first twenty minutes were all UCD with Sligo having no response to the students pressure, pace and distribution. The intensity of the UCD performance began to subside slightly in the second quarter however.

Sligo’s first real chance of the half came after good work down the right by Alan Keane. He found Davoren at the back post and his volley from a tight angle hit the side netting.

With five minutes left in the half UCD continued to look dangerous. Marshall hit the post, Rusk miss hit his attempt and Benson finally had his shot saved in a frantic few seconds in front of the Sligo goal.

With the half time whistle the excitement grew around the bowl with the UCD fans sensing their first home win of the season.

UCD came into the second half looking slightly lethargic, while Sligo on the other hand began to press the students harder.

UCD allowed their opponents possession while they sat back and soaked up the toothless Sligo attacks, a Joseph Ndo header, that never threatened, and a series of corners where the extent of the danger posed to UCD.

On fifty eight minutes UCD once again were their own worst enemies as they contrived to hand an equalizer to their opponents. Richie Ryan played a through ball that Barron misjudged; Doyle barreled his way into the box and selflessly fed Cretaro, with the goal at his mercy Cretaro managed to shoot wide.

Sligo where made to  rue that missed chance in the 60th minute when Robbie Creevy played a through ball into Darren Meenan, Meenan’s shot deflected into Rusk’s path and he buried it into the corner.

Sligo continued to enjoy the lion’s share of possession, patient prodding did finally produce something of note in the 83rd minute when a cross from the left deflected off Ciaran Nangle and past Barron to give Sligo a remote hope of earning an unlikely point.

In the final few minutes of the game Sligo, fired up by the chance of redemption that a point may have given them, began diving into the tackle. Richie Ryan in particular losing his cool; he rashly dived into a challenge on Samir Belhout and was lucky to get a way without a booking.

With Sligo rattled and UCD looking comfortable the game passed without further incident, a deserved win for UCD AFC in a game that they always looked comfortable in.

UCD: Benson 8 Mins, Rusk 59 Mins. Sligo: Nangle og 83 Mins

UCD: Ger Barron; Paul O’Conor, Michael Leahy, Yael Haro, Ciaran Nangle; Darren Meenan, Robbie Benson, Robbie Creevy (Daniel Ledwith, 62), Paul Corry, Dean Marshall; Graham Rusk (Samir Belhout, 77).

Subs not used: Mark McGinley, Sean Harding, Sean Russell, Stephen Doyle, Gavin Colton.

Sligo Rovers: Brendan Clarke; Iarfhlaith Davoren, Jason McGuinness, Gavin Peers, Alan Keane; John Russell, Joseph Ndo (Aaron Greene, 77), Richie Ryan, John Dillon (Daryl Horgan, 61), Raffaele Cretaro (Mathew Blinkhorn,69); Eoin Doyle.

 Subs not used: Ciaran Kelly, Derek Foran, Danny Ventre, Alan Kirby.

 Referee: Graham Kelly.