UCD aim to end trophy famine - January 16, 2001
St. Pat's v UCD, League Cup final first-leg 19:45
St. Patrick's Athletic go into tonight's Eircom League Cup final first-leg match at Richmond park hoping to add yet another pot to their already considerable haul - but for UCD the aim is to end a trophy famine stretching back to 1984.
That's when the Students won their one and only bit of silverware - the FAI Cup - as a League club.
Of course, the winner's cheque for £8,000 provides another incentive - but for UCD, the chance to inject a bit of success into a bitterly disappointing season should be motive enough.
The Students seemed on the verge of something big when they qualified for Europe last term - but now they have a relegation battle on their hands and skipper Tony McDonnell admits a note of arrogance crept in.
"It went beyond confidence," says McDonnell. "There was a lot of complacency with everyone, myself included, thinking that we were going to pick up where we left off but it hasn't turned out anything like that."
Now the pendulum has swung to the other extreme, from complacency to a crisis of confidence and, on the face of it, St. Pat's have to be favourites, for tonight's first leg at least.
The Saints, during the process of team rebuilding, came through their own mini-crisis and have hit a vein of excellent form. Manager Pat Dolan can pick from a full squad tonight - apart from long-term injury victims Paul Donnolly and Pakie Lynch - and his only selection quandary is at centre back, where Stephen McGuinness and Darren Maguire have both shown good form.
UCD, who offloaded Mick O'Byrne to Kilkenny City last week, completed the signing of goalkeeper Patrick Jennings - son of the legendary Pat - this week. He'll be at Richmond Park tonight but won't be in the squad.