Shamrock Rovers chasing third place in the Premier Division suffered a setback at Tolka Park last night as struggling UCD held on for a valuable point.

The students created the majority of the chances with Rovers goalkeeper Tony O'Dowd kept busy during the course of the 90 minutes.

Rovers for their part had only one chance of any real substance and never threatened the visitors' goal.

That came on 61 minutes when central defender, Terry Palmer got on the end of a free kick from Mark Britton only to be delayed by Barry Ryan who managed to get his body in the way of the shot.

Shamrock Rovers: Whelan; Brittin, Brazil, Palmer, Woods, Tracey, Murray, Colwell, Morrisroe, Sherlock, O'Connor. Subs: Kenny for Murray (55 mins), O'Neill for Morrisroe (55 mins).

UCD: Ryan; Mahon, Lynch, Delaney, Brett, McLoughlin, Kavanagh, Martyn, O'Donnell, Bennis, O'Byrne.

Referee: T Tully (Cork).