Corinthians defeat alma mater | Stephen Barry

College Corinthians 2UCC 1As the half time whistle blew John Caulfield paused his walk across Corinthians Park and stood, for a minute, staring at his substitutes as if hoping that one of them would curl a  screamer into the top corner, for it was that class of inspiration that an outplayed UCC needed entering the second half two goals behind.Yet towards the end of an entertaining contest, UCC were in with a shout of snatching a point on their return to the MSL Premier Division; but such an outcome would have been harsh on Corinthians, who were by far the more inventive going forward.In spite of UCC’s Intermediate Cup win the previous weekend, they were unable to provide any effective resistance to Corinthians in the opening period on Saturday, with the table toppers finding plenty of joy down the wings.Ronan Stanton had the better of his match up with Conor Barry and his early shot into the side-netting proved a sign of things to come. His floated free found the head of the soaring Rob Waters, who was denied by the post before Stanton’s cut back set up the same man for another header, which forced Shane O’Callaghan into a diving save.Opposite winger William Heffernan put O’Callaghan to the test with a low drive from distance before the UCC keeper was beaten after a defensive blunder from Andrew Neville, almost half an hour in. Neville was pickpocketed in his own box by Luke Connolly and Stanton showed ice-cool composure to dummy to the left and exact maximum punishment from close range.Minutes later Stanton’s cut back ran through to Heffernan on the edge of the box. He controlled precisely, flicked the ball onto his left and powered a shot through O’Callaghan’s fingertips.UCC responded well to this double whammy and Calvin O’Callaghan had Eoin Kelly at full stretch to get a hand to a long-range effort. Then the same man bustled down the field before slipping Simon Holland through on goal, only for the striker to miscue his shot and see the ball bobble into Kelly’s hands.It was a frustrating half for the students, featuring a lack of composure in the final third, an inability to retain possession and a lack of cohesion in defence which coughed up three free headers in front of goal, with Andy O’Connell having the worst miss.However UCC showed a significant improvement after the break, with Josh O’Shea and Steve Mahon growing into the game to lead the fight-back. Another factor in the momentum shift was Corinthians decision to remove one of their attacking quartet and play Stanton through the centre where he was more easily contained. This gave UCC a platform to build from but they remained frustratingly indecisive in front of goal, Holland missing another chance and others miscontrolling within sight of goal.Barry proved more comfortable going forward and on the hour mark he won the corner which led to UCC’s equaliser, James O’Brien nodding in Eoin Kilcommins’ floated delivery.Corinthians reasserted their dominance with Stanton, Connolly and Waters all missing half-chances, while Neville brilliantly dispossessed the latter as he went through on goal.With 11 minutes to go, Hugh O’Donovan, who had been booked in the first minute, was shown the line for a late tackle. Nevertheless Corinthians began to sit back in the final minutes. Kilcommins fluffed an opportunity to chip Kelly in the Corinthians goal and then O’Shea, who was shackled by the decision to move him to full-back, saw his cross deceive his former UCC colleague, Kelly, but float just wide of the far post. Only minutes later the long-whistle sounded.