Date: 4 March 2022

Competition: League of Ireland Premier Division (first tier)

Result: Drogheda United 4 – 2 UCD

Tickets: €15 (adult), free (kids)

Attendance: circa 2,000

Match Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐

The game: Drogheda United were bottom of the admittedly very early-stage League of Ireland Premier Division season going into this game, so a match against newly promoted UCD – once again, I believe, the only student top-tier team in Europe – looked like one with the potential to be quite evenly matched. It wasn’t particularly.

Sometimes a match takes on an interested flavour when one strategy seems dominant, and Drogheda worked out a few minutes into the game that UCD were weak down their defensive left. They continually exploited this, with a series of overlaps leading to crosses and three first half goals, which meant a dominant 3-0 half time lead. UCD sorted it out to a degree in the second half and looked far better (this worked out well for us, as five of the six goals happened right in front of us at one end), but Drogheda were always going to win this one. Entertaining, though. Fiercely so. I suspect Drogheda will do well at home, though they’ll finish bottom half. UCD are in trouble already, I think.