THERE'S no substitute for class. And if the students weren't already aware of this, Bohemians midfielder, Brian Mooney reiterated the point when scoring his side's winner with a superb strike, four minutes from time at Belfield yesterday.

The result lifted Bohemians above Shelbourne to second spot.

Second spot was the least we deserved given our problems this year. I would dearly have loved to field the same 11 for the entire season but fate somehow conspired against me. There were so many results that changed due to last minute goals and that effectively lost us the title," manager Turlough O'Connor said.

UCD thwarted the efforts of Bohemians' front pairing of Derek Swan and John Ryan, who proved ineffective throughout. But ironically, they allowed Tony O'Connor to sneak through after 20 minutes to dispatch Tommy Byrne's pass to the net.

But with six minutes to go in the first half, the hosts grabbed a deserved equaliser with Andy Myler heading back a Jason Sherlock cross to Ciaran Kavanagh, who in turn, flicked the ball past Michael Dempsey.

As the game neared the end Byrne once more turned provider when sweeping the ball out left to Mooney, who with deadly accuracy, drilled the ball into the roof of the net.