Finn Harps come undone in 95th minute as UCD grab all three points late on

There was heartbreak for Finn Harps at the UCD Bowl on Friday evening as a goal deep into stoppage time by UCD substitute Louis Dignam denied them a share of the spoils in this SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division clash.

Harps boss Kevin McHugh had made one change to the side that lost out at home to Cobh Ramblers last Friday - Tokam Perrault drafted into the first 11 in place of Tony McNamee.

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Although Harps got the better of the Students when they paid a visit to Finn Park earlier this season, Belfield has historically been a very tough venue for the Donegal men to garner a result from.

It was the hosts who initially dominated the play in the latest meeting between these two sides with Hugh Smith and Ciaran Behan both firing marginally off target.

Yet Harps dug in from a defensive perspective during the opening quarter and also tested the resolve of their opponents in the 12th minute of the action. From a swift counterattacking move, Nathan Lumingo was picked out at a left-hand angle and he forced a low save out of UCD netminder Dara Kavanagh.

This was a warning sign of sorts for their south Dublin counterparts, but Harps found themselves increasingly on the back foot as the tie progressed.

Off a second successive corner on 27 minutes – after Harps custodian Lorenzo Piaia Barbosa had produced a superb point blank save – the visitors failed to clear the ball from danger and UCD’s Niall Holohan was on hand to drill the ball to the net.

Considering how much they had ramped up the pressure either side of the first-quarter mark, this was a well-earned lead for the Students.

Harps were struggling to make the same impact in attack as a result, although Temiloluwa Ajibola did keep the aforementioned Kavanagh on his toes with a low drive that was ultimately claimed in assured fashion.

Barbosa also tipped over a powerful shot from Thomas Morley as UCD continued to threaten in the final third, but their lead stood at just a single goal during the interval.

The Harps front men had largely lived off scraps in the opening period, but Lumingo almost had a sight of goal five minutes after the restart following a mix-up between Kavanagh and a UCD defender.

While the French winger couldn’t sort his feet in time to get a shot away on that occasion, Harps remained very much in the reckoning moving past the hour mark.

Max Hutchison had been introduced in place of skipper Conor Tourish by this stage and they were later joined by double substitutes McNamee and Aaron McLaughlin at the beginning of the third-quarter.

There would have been a sense amongst the Harps management that an equaliser was within their grasp and it was a starting player who eventually opened their account in the 69th minute.

After receiving the ball in space just outside the penalty area, Bernardo Monteiro unleashed an unstoppable shot to the bottom left-hand corner of the UCD net.

As expected – having struggled to play with the same attacking rhythm in the second half as they had before the break – UCD enhanced the tempo of their play in the wake of the Portuguese native’s leveller.

It looked like Harps were going to hold out in the end for what would be a very commendable draw, but right at the end of the four minutes of additional time that was announced in Belfield, Dignam tried his luck from distance and his deflected shot made its way past the helpless Barbosa for a dramatic winning goal that sees Harps dropping down to eighth in the table.

UCD: Dara Kavanagh; Luke O’Regan, Eanna Clancy (Carl Lennox 70), Niall Holohan, Luca Cailloce; Adam Wells, Killian Cailloce (Goodness Ogbonna 85); Michael McCullagh, Thomas Morley (Louis Dignam 70), Hugh Smith; Ciaran Behan.

Finn Harps: Lorenzo Piaia Barbosa; Oran Brogan, Joel Bradley-Walsh, Conor Tourish (Max Hutchison 56); Josh Cullen, Tokam Perrault, Gavin McAteer, Alex Fanle; Bernardo Monteiro (Idir Zerrouk 92), Temiloluwa Ajibola (Aaron McLaughlin 68), Nathan Lumingo (Tony McNamee 68).

Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan (Cork).