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College Tribune | 3rd February 2009
News Sport
Marian dismissed at the death UCD Marian stumbled once again at a crucial time of the season following an absorbing 99-89 defeat to Neptune of Cork after overtime in Belfield last Sunday. Despite the fact that Marian were missing key players such as Dan James, Gary Edge and Peter Finn, the UCD side actually looked to be dominating the match going into the last quarter, only to let another late collapse cost them the match. “We didn't play very well,” admitted Marian's second top-scorer Conor Meany afterwards, “We had a lot of injuries going into the game, but we still had a great chance to win the game and consolidate our second place spot.” Although fatigue would have been an easy explanation for the Belfield side, Meany was having none of it - “If today was the first time we lost a match late on, I'd say it was tiredness. But we've been doing
■■ Bryan Devlin this since the start of December so we have to work an awful lot harder now.” The first quarter saw both sides exchanging scores at a fierce rate, with UCD being slightly more wasteful with their opportunities. Marian's David Ryan started the game in the same style that he would for the rest of the match, contributing with a few two-pointers and an excellent threepointer. However, he found his match in the American Vincent James who stormed through Marian's defence at a worrying ease before slotting the ball into the basket on four separate occasions. Going into the second quarter with a two point deficit, the Belfield side
rallied somewhat with some excellent shooting from both Meany and Conor James, who made a big impact when he came on with an outstanding three-pointer and two-pointer under pressure. Neptune never let Marian get more than a five point lead over them and with the help of some magnificent three-pointers from Ger Noonan, the Cork side never let Marian out of their sights. A late flurry of points from Meany and Ryan meant Marian led at half-time by 49-44. Within three minutes of the restart, it appeared that UCD were going to finally convert their apparent dominance into scores as the dynamic duo of Meany and Ryan once again tore the Neptune defence to shreds. Slick passing and accurate shooting, especially from Ryan, seemed to take over as Marian raced into an 11 point lead
halfway through the quarter. Once again, Neptune refused to stay down following UCD dominance, with scores from the Americans James and Ed Millard ensuring the gap between the sides had been cut down to a measly five points by the end of the quarter. The final quarter started with both sides playing frantically, however, worryingly for UCD both James and Millard seemed to be strolling through their defence and scoring on nearly every occasion. By the third minute of the quarter, James put the Cork side back in the lead for the first time since the first quarter following an intercepted pass and breakaway. Just when things were going right for
Neptune, UCD's luck seem to've run out completely as shots from Ryan and Meany flirted with the basket on several occasions, without ever going in. Marian would then suffer a crucial blow midway through the quarter when top-scorer Ryan was fouled out following two offensive fouls quickly in succession. The initial impact of this was devastating as both James and Millard were getting through the UCD defence with greater ease now, building up a seven point lead for their side. The pressure of being the new talisman fell on the shoulders of Meany, who virtually carried his side single handedly for the remainder of the
He’s the Colman Hanley meets the man charged to get UCD back into the top flight Following his appointment as new U.C.D. soccer manager, Martin Russell spoke exclusively to the College Tribune’s Colman Hanley. Following Pete Mahon’s departure by mutual consent, U.C.D. A.F.C’s board of management moved quickly to appoint 41 year old Martin Russell. Russell was Pete Mahon’s assistant during his tenure at the club and has a wealth of experience from his playing career in both England and Ireland. Russell signed for Manchester United from Belvedere as a 15 year-old but his spell at Old Trafford proved unsuccessful. Russell had loan spells at Birmingham City and Norwich City before joining Leicester City permanently. Russell made 20 appearances for the Foxes (1987-1989) before moving to Scarborough. (His transfer fee of £102,000 remains a record transfer fee for Scarborough F.C.)
The Dubliner made 50 appearances for Scarborough before joining Middlesborough in 1990. But he only stayed there for a year before returning home. Russell played with Portadown for 8 years before finishing his career at Saint Patrick’s Athletic. ‘Rusty’ won 2 leagues, a league cup, a Leinster Senior Cup and the F.A.I. Super Cup while also playing in the Champions League against Glasgow Celtic and Zimbru Chisinau (Moldova), and in the Intertoto Cup against H.N.K. Rijeka (Croatia) and K.A.A. Gent (Belgium). After so many years experience, Russell jumped at the chance to take up his first senior managerial post and outlined his plan to strengthen U.C.D.’s scholarship programme. ‘There was a void when Pete left the club and the board were looking to maintain as much stability within the club as possible. So when they came to me and
asked me to takeover as manager, I was delighted to be given the opportunity. The financial impact of relegation last year means the budget has been reduced and we the exit of last year’s senior players. We also want to keep the scholarship system, which the club holds dearly, running smoothly so we’re going to give the 6 new scholars and the other youngsters a chance in the first team. Russell has a massive re-building job ahead of him as many of last years seniors have left the club. Most recently it was confirmed Matt Gregg has left to join Bohemians for a nominal fee while Pat McWalter has chosen to return to the Wicklow Gaelic Football set-up. Russell admitted the current squad is small and that he was looking to rectify that. ‘We have about 10 scholarship players, Ronan Finn as our only professional, and the amateur play-