AIRTRICITY LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION UCD 0 Dundalk 2:INSPIRED BY the goalkeeping heroics of Peter Cherrie, Dundalk recorded a deserved victory over UCD despite being down to 10 men for the entire second half at the Belfield Bowl last night.

Cherrie pulled off a string of superb saves during the 90 minutes with Liam Burns outstanding in the centre of defence after Gary Breen was shown the red card in the 46th minute.

But the major consolation for College was that after Sporting Fingal’s 3-1 victory over Galway United, Martin Russell’s team are still guaranteed their place in the Premier Division next season.

Cherrie did well to deny striker David McMillan’s close-range effort after 17 minutes and brilliantly tipped over another shot by McMillan two minutes later.

Chris Mulhall tested Cherrie again before the visitors struck for the opening goal against the run of play after 30 minutes. Substitute Stephen Maher burst down the right to cross to unmarked striker Fahrudin Kudozovic who tapped the ball home at the far post.

But Dundalk suffered a major setback seconds before the interval when referee Anthony Buttimer showed the red card to central defender Breen for an alleged elbow challenge on UCD midfielder Greg Bolger. It seemed a harsh decision.

Cherrie saved from Paul Corry and McMillan again and the home side wasted a glorious opportunity of an equaliser on 74 minutes when Corry was taken down by midfielder Dean Bennett inside the area. Bolger’s penalty was brilliantly parried on to the crossbar and then reclaimed by Cherrie.

Substitute Johnny Breen sealed Dundalk’s win when he pounced on a poor back pass from defender Michael Leahy to fire past goalkeeper Billy Brennan.

UCD: Brennan; Shortall, Leahy, E McMillan, Nangle; Mulhall, Bolger, Corry, Ward (Moore, 75 mins); D McMillan (Wilson, 67) , Kilduff.

DUNDALK: Cherrie; Madden, G Breen, Burns, Kelly; Kearns (Maher, 29 mins), Bennett, Miller, Gaynor; Kudozovic (McGuigan, 82 mins), Tipton (J Breen, 65 mins).

Referee: A Buttimer(Cork).