The draw sees Treaty United make it four games unbeaten
Treaty United have closed out the League of Ireland First Division 2024 season at home with a draw against UCD in Markets Field.
Treaty have made a habit of starting fast, following on from Lee Lynch’s early strike against Cork. Yoyo Mahdy ensured the trend continued to the game, slotting his penalty away in the fourth minute.
There wasn’t much in the way of action at Garryowen, with UCD retaining the majority of possession against a Treaty United side happy to hold on to their lead and chase. They did go close through Sam Norval from inside the area, dragging his shot wide of Corey Chambers’ left post.
Outside of Mahdy’s penalty, it was a quiet opening 20 minutes which suited the hosts as they searched for a win in their final home game of 2024.
Calls for a penalty were waved away after the shot, with referee Mark Houlihan unbothered by the Students’ protests. Just before half an hour of play, former Galway United man Donal Higgins flashed a shot wide from the edge of the area after a corner routine.
The Super Blues did try to fire back on the 32-minute mark, with Lee Devitt firing from the left side of the box off his weaker right foot. Unfortunately for the in-form midfielder, it would sail wide right.
Eanna Clancy went close with a header from a corner after Richkov Boevi headed behind a cross. Five minutes later, Higgins had a poke from a similar position as his earlier effort, but found the same outcome, wide to the right.
The first half would end with the Limerick men one up and their Dublin counterparts came out from the restart looking to turn the game around.
With that aim in their minds, Stephen Mohan would level the sides on the 48th minute from his deflected attempt. The shot came from the left side of the Treaty area – spinning off Boevi and going past Chambers – giving the Belfield side their equaliser.
With 9 minutes played in the second half, a barrage of efforts from Mohan and Hugh Parker came within seconds of each other. Chambers spilled the rebound and Boevi hooked the ball off the line with a left-footed clearance.
A minute later Mahdy came close to a goal of the season nominee for United. His central free kick just past the D hit the underside of the bar after getting the ball over the wall. Bouncing on the line, Devitt nodded the ball into the net but did so from an offside position.
Parker got his head to a Mohan cross – the latter causing so much trouble for Treaty’s right side – but the young striker looped his header over.
Chances would again be scarce in appearance until close to 70 minutes, with Adam Brennan finding the bottom-left corner of the goal first time from a step outside the box. The 17-year-old’s first professional goal had sent the visiting Students ahead.
With the contest having grown livelier as it went on, with 12 minutes remaining Evan O’Connor would restore parity with a fantastic volley on the turn drilled past Dara Kavanagh.
It was set up by Thomas Considine from the bench – swinging a ball towards the box from a failed corner on the left-wing – where Mark Walsh would deftly head it into the path of O’Connor for his third goal of the year.
Despite pushes a winner from both sides, the final league game of 2024 at Markets Field would see the spoils shared between the Shannonsiders and the Students.
Player of the match: Stephen Mohan (UCD)
Treaty United: Corey Chambers, Christopher Horgan (Evan O’Connor, 64′), Richkov Boevi, Mark Walsh, Oisin O’Reilly, Adam O’Halloran (Thomas Considine, 64′), Colin Conroy, Lee Devitt, Yoyo Mahdy (Nikodem Kozlowski, 76′), Tripimir Vrljicak (Steven Healy, HT), David Tarmey (Scott Murphy, 75′)
UCD: Dara Kavanagh, Alex Dunne, Niall Holohan, Eanna Clancy, Adam Wells (Harry Curtis, 65′), Adam Verdon, Sam Norval (Matthew Alonge, 66′), Donal Higgins, Stephen Mohan (Roy Lawlor, 91′), Adam Brennan (Danu Kinsella-Bishop, 79′), Hugh Parker (Michael Raggett, 79′)