Stjarnan 3-2 UCD
(UCD win 5-3 on aggregate)
UCD are through to the second round of the Uefa Youth League after pulling off a thrilling 5-3 aggregate win against Stjarnan in Iceland on Wednesday night.
The Students took a 3-0 lead to Rekjavik for the second leg thanks to a superb display at the UCD Bowl two weeks ago, when goals from Adam Brennan, Roy Lawlor and Odhran MacLaughlin blew the visitors away.
However it was a different story in a rollercoaster return leg.
Stjarnan came out all guns blazing and hit the front in the seventh minute through Olafur Vidar Sigurdsson.
MacLaughlin fired home a leveller four minutes before the break to leave UCD 4-1 up on aggregate, but goals from Ingolfur Gauti Ingason in the 48th minute and Hafþor Andri Benediktsson in the 71st hauled the hosts back into the tie.
UCD - who qualified for the competition by winning the SSE Airtricity Under 19 League final last October - were hanging on for dear life before Hugh Parker settled it in the 90th minute to spark huge celebrations.
It caps a great few days for UCD, who won the Enda McGuill Cup last Saturday when beating Sligo Rovers 2-1 after extra-time.
Doing club and country proud 🇮🇪
— UCD FC (@UCDAFC) October 2, 2024
Next round here we come 🇪🇺@UEFAYouthLeague @LeagueofIreland pic.twitter.com/NBWwWDzXac
They will next face FC 2 Korriku of Kosovo, with the first leg in Podujeve on Wednesday 23 October, and the second leg back in Dublin a week later on 6 November.
The UEFA Youth League involves the U19 teams of the 32 UEFA Champions League entrants, plus the youth domestic champions of 32 nations.
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