Dundalk 4
UCD 1
Niall Newberry reports from Oriel Park
PATRICK HOBAN made history by scoring a hat-trick as Dundalk romped to a 4-1 SSE Airtricity League win over UCD to lift themselves back into the top half of the table.
The Dundalk skipper, who was taken off straight after scoring his third, equalled the club’s all-time goalscoring record, which was first set by Joey Donnelly way back in 1946.
Things weren’t looking good for the hosts early on, though, with Jake Doyle putting struggling UCD ahead, only for Hoban to equalise, before Daniel Kelly made it 2-1 before half-time, with Hoban then adding two more in the second half to complete the rout.
The Lilywhites had early opportunities; Ryan O’Kane’s set-piece was headed over by Darragh Leahy inside 60 seconds before a Kelly low drive was gathered by Kian Moore.
However, disaster struck on seven minutes for Stephen O’Donnell’s side, as a mix-up between Andy Boyle and Nathan Shepperd presented Jake Doyle with the easiest of tasks of finishing into an empty net and putting the Premier Division’s basement side 1-0 up.
Dundalk hadn’t won in any of their previous four matches, and desperately sought an equalising goal, with another O’Kane free being headed over by Leahy, while Johannes Yli-Kokko had a shot battered away by UCD goalkeeper Moore not long afterwards.
It was Yli-Kokko that yielded Dundalk’s leveller on 23 minutes, after he was needlessly fouled inside the penalty area by Alex Nolan, and up stepped skipper Hoban to send Moore the wrong way from the spot, scoring his 140th goal for the club in the process.
Kelly had two opportunities in quick succession to put Dundalk ahead, firing into the side-netting, before heading off target after he had met a Leahy cross at the back post.
Kelly was once again in the thick of the action shortly after those errant attempts, as it was his cross that was headed by Cameron Elliott and pushed around the post by Moore.
Dundalk’s number seven bagged his goal on 41 minutes, nipping in ahead of Nolan to finish from close range after the UCD defence failed to deal with Hoban’s looped header.
It was 3-1 on 52 minutes when a pinpoint Archie Davies cross was planted home in almost trademark fashion by the head of Hoban — now just one goal shy of equalling Donnelly’s all-time record haul for the club, which had stood since the mid-1940s.
O’Donnell’s team continued to pepper the UCD goal; O’Kane wriggled away from two players before crashing an effort off the post, minutes before Elliott showed good composure to evade the challenge of two adversaries, but was foiled in the end by Moore.
Then came the game’s historic moment on 69 minutes, with a Leahy cross being met at the back post by the towering head of Hoban, to complete his hat-trick and score his 142nd goal for a club he first represented more than 10 years ago under Stephen Kenny.
Dundalk had chances to score a fifth, with Paul Doyle having an effort cleared off the line by Danu Kinsella-Bishop, while John Martin’s shot was brilliantly kept out by Moore.
Dundalk: Nathan Shepperd; Archie Davies (Hayden Muller 78), Andy Boyle, Louie Annesley, Darragh Leahy; Daniel Kelly (Keith Ward 71), Greg Sloggett (John Martin 71), Johannes Yli-Kokko (Connor Malley 80), Ryan O’Kane; Cameron Elliott, Patrick Hoban (Paul Doyle 71).
UCD: Kian Moore; Michael Gallagher, Harvey O’Brien (Ryan Bowden 59), Jack Keaney, Evan Osam, Daniel Norris (Kyle Donoghue 59); Brendan Barr, Adam Wells; Ciaran Behan (Danu Kinsella-Bishop 9); Alex Nolan (Daniel Babb 59), Jake Doyle.
Referee: Damien MacGraith
Attendance: 1,762