UCD 1 Cobh Ramblers 1"JUST GIVE me chances, that's all I ask," said a beaming Matt Gregg shortly after the UCD goalkeeper had headed home a 94th-minute equaliser against relegation rivals Cobh Ramblers at Belfield on Saturday.
The southerners had been on the verge of securing a win of potentially critical importance when the former Bohemians player decided to head deep into opposition territory for Derek Doyle's free-kick in the dying seconds.
In what Cobh manager Stephen Henderson described afterwards as a "moment of madness" his opposite number, James McCarthy, rashly came off his line in an attempt to claim the ball but got nowhere near it and Gregg rose above a crowded area to turn the ball into an empty net from 10 metres out.
"A couple of the lads had told me to get back but I said, 'No, I'm a better header of the ball than you'," said the 29 year-old. "Then when it came in I just attacked it . . . didn't know too much about it to be honest but when I looked up it was going in, the goal was just empty, and I didn't know what to do. It's not as if I'd ever thought of practising a celebration."
UCD manager Pete Mahon admitted he'd never seen the like of it, although bizarrely the club's reserve team goalkeeper, Billy Brennan, scored a penalty against Limerick 37 in the A League only last week. "To be honest, I didn't even notice him going up for it but (first team coach) Martin Russell pointed it out and said we should get him back and I just said to leave him there, that he might cause a bit of mayhem. I couldn't believe what happened then."
Mahon readily conceded his side had played poorly overall but felt the draw had been justified given the number of chances his side had created to cancel out Ross Gaynor's 12th-minute penalty.
Predictably, Henderson didn't agree as he lamented the fact a reckless piece of goalkeeping had proven so costly after what he felt had generally been a highly professional performance.
"To be fair James played well overall but there were 22 men in the box at the end and there was no need to come for the ball. If he's stayed on his line it would have just come to him. For it to happen in the 93rd minute and 59th second was a killer. It was a great finish, though. He hit the target and that's all you'd ask a striker to do in the same circumstances."
UCD:Gregg; Harding (McFaul, 68 mins), McMillan, Kenna, Bermingham; Fitzgerald, Finn (McNally, 74 mins), King, Doyle; McWalter, O'Neill (Forsyth, 55 mins).
COBH RAMBLERS:McCarthy; Carey, Guthrie, Murray, Lally; O'Neill, O'Brien, O'Halloran (J Kearney, 80 mins), O'Shea (Coleman, 74 mins); Gaynor, Kavanagh (Meade, 86 mins).
Referee:P Sutton (Clare).
