by Shane Murray
Goals from Johnny Flynn O’Connor and Conor Sinnot either side of half-time earned Wexford Youths their place in the semi-finals of the eircom League Cup with a deserved 2-1 victory over UCD at the Belfield Bowl this evening.
The visitors opened the scoring in the 40th minute when Flynn O’Connor neatly tucked his shot beyond Billy Brennan from just inside the box.
Wexford doubled their lead two minutes after the restart when Conor Sinnott beat ’keeper Brennan to Brian Shortall’s weakly placed headed backpass, and UCD were left to rue Brennan’s missed 65th-minute penalty when Evan McMillan headed home in the 72nd minute.
Mick Wallace’s men began brightly and Flynn O’Connor forced an early corner which Marty Kelly narrowly headed over.
At the other end, UCD’s Timmy Purcell created a good opening but he dragged his left foot shot just wide in the fourth minute
The impressive Flynn O’Connor responded for the visitors three minutes later when his right foot strike from outside the box forced an excellent save from UCD ’keeper Brennan.
Wexford lined out with five in midfield and Murphy alone up front against a UCD team which showed nine changes from their recent 2-0 defeat to Cork City.
Visiting goalkeeper Pa Doyle was the busier of the two in the opening exchanges, but really only had to produce a number of fisted clearances as UCD failed to create any meaningful openings.
Wexford breathed a sigh of relief in the 26th minute when centre-back Stewart Lawlor appeared to foul UCD’s Timmy Purcell inside the box, but all home penalty appeals were ignored by referee Derek Tomney.
Wexford’s Paul Murphy went close to breaking the deadlock in the 32nd minute when he capitalised on some hesitation in the home defence, but his shot on the turn drifted marginally wide. John Reilly’s deflected effort was easily gathered by Doyle at the other end as the game began to open up.
And just as the game was looking like it would remain scoreless at the break, Mick Wallace’s men broke the deadlock in the 40th minute.
Murphy’s drilled cross from out on the left wing looked to have found Lawlor on the edge of the box, but his miscued effort fell invitingly at the feet of Flynn O’Connor to his right, and the midfielder neatly tucked his shot beyond Brennan.
Reilly thought he had equalised just into first half stoppage-time when he kept his nerve to calmly place his low shot from the edge of the box under Doyle, but Tomney correctly called play back for offside.
Wexford doubled their lead two minutes after the restart when Sinnott stole in to beat ’keeper Brennan to Shortall’s weakly placed headed backpass, and he showed great composure to clip the ball over the advancing ’keeper to find the net.
Reilly and Purcell played a terrific one-two in the 51st minute, but the former’s shot was brilliantly put behind by the alert Doyle. McMillan then headed just wide from the resulting corner as the Wexford goal began to lead a charmed life.
UCD missed an excellent opportunity to get back into the match in the 65th minute when Patsi Malone handled a volleyed shot from Darren Forsythe, but unusually, goalkeeper Billy Brennan made the long journey from his box only to lift his shot high over his opponent’s bar.
Two minutes later, Wexford could have added a third when Malone headed Sinnott’s right-wing free narrowly wide.
McMillan and Forsythe then both had shots blocked on the line in quick succession in the 71st minute as Pete Mahon’s men pushed for the goal their second half prompting deserved.
And that goal duly arrived a minute later when McMillan rose highest to powerfully head home Greg Bolger’s corner from the left.
UCD continued to press with Wexford losing some of their cohesion with three substitutions, and Ger O’Callaghan’s jinking run on the left created an opening for Purcell in the 75th minute, but he lifted his shot over.
A patient build-up in the 83rd minute saw UCD right-back Sean Harding’s beautifully struck shot from distance tipped over by Doyle.
UCD substitute John O’Neill then almost grabbed an equaliser in the 86th minute, but he pulled his shot wide from the penalty spot when he really should have hit the target.
O’Neill almost stole through again but another opportunistic effort from inside the box squirmed just wide of Doyle’s left hand post, much to the relief of the now vocal Wexford support.
McMillan and Harding both had one final effort each come to nothing as Wexford held on for a famous victory over Premier Division opponents and book their place in the semi-finals.
UCD: 1 Billy Brennan, 2 Sean Harding, 3 Killian Gallagher (12 John O’Neill 58 mins), 4 Brian Shortall, 5 Evan McMillan, 6 Tony Doyle, 7 John Reilly, 8Greg Bolger, 9 Darren Forsythe, 10 Timmy Purcell, 11 Ger O’Callaghan.
Subs not used: 13 Ronan Finn, 14 Derek Doyle, 15 Michael Kelly, 16 Matt Gregg.
Wexford Youths: 1 Pa Doyle; 4 Paul Rossiter, 2 Anthony Russell, 3 Stewart Lawlor, 5 Joe Wadding; 6 Conor Sinnott, 7 Patsi Malone, 8 Johnny Flynn O’Connor (16 Conor Wallace 78 mins), 9 Gavin Doyle, 10 Marty Kelly (17 Shane Dempsey 56 mins); 11 Paul Murphy (19 Danny Furlong 63 mins).
Subs not used: 12 Thomas Hawkins, 15 Richie Fitzgerald.
Referee: Derek Tomney.
