Treaty United 4
UCD 1
Brendan Graham at The Markets Field
A RUTHLESS HAT-TRICK from Enda Curran combined with a fourth from Willie Armshaw saw First Division side Treaty United take down Premier Division outfit UCD and march on to the club’s first ever FAI Cup semi-final.
Treaty United almost earned themselves the dream start on the counter attack after midfielder Willie Armshaw stole the ball in midfield and drove forward frantically. Armshaw managed to jink past Dignam on the D before seeing his effort brilliantly saved by Kian Moore in the UCD goal.
Enda Curran got himself on the end of the rebound but blazed over the bar.
The home side looked confident early on with their attacking football. Dean George and Enda Curran had good chances of their own asking questions of Moore but nothing he couldn’t answer.
Despite being under constant pressure, UCD continued to weather the storm, and had to wait until the 24th minute for their first opportunity to test Winn. Lonergan scuffed a shot towards goal which caused Winn more trouble than it should have with the greasy surface, but he recovered well to clear.
Two minutes later Treaty deservedly had the lead from the penalty spot. The dangerous Willie Armshaw showed excellent feet to flick the ball past Evan Osam before being hauled down by the UCD defender inside the box. Curran made no mistake from the spot to hand Limerick the lead.
With the deadlock broken Tommy Barrett’s side continued to grow in confidence and proceeded to push forward. They doubled their lead on 42 minutes. Curran showed a real ruthlessness with his second of the evening as he made the most of a mix-up between Todd and Osam at the back.
A perfectly weighted through ball from Lonergan over the top caught the UCD centre halves completely with both leaving it for each other with the grateful Curran sneaking in behind both.
It took Curran just five minutes from the restart to get his third and become the first senior player at the club to score a hat-trick.
Ludden’s launching throw from the sideline into the box caused a lot of uncertainty among the UCD defence. Osam’s half-clearance fell right into the path of Curran just inside the box, the striker unleashing a stunning strike past the helpless Moore and into the top corner.
Despite conceding their third of the evening UCD never allowed their heads to drop and put together a positive spell of football on the hour mark, but Treaty matched them to everything in what was a comfortable display in the end for the home side.
Treaty had their fourth of the game with 15 minutes remaining and a classy team goal it was.
George flicked a neat ball around the corner into the path of his team mate Christopher on the advance. Christopher edged past Caffrey before squaring the ball for the unmarked Armshaw to score for the hosts.
UCD did get a consolation goal just minutes later with Barrett furious with his side’s concentration lapse at the back and potential clean sheet gone. Substitute Harry O’Connor was quickest to react to the quick throw in from Lonergan for the Students, as he managed to find himself some space in a packed penalty area to slot past Winn but really it would only ever be a consolation so late on.
The in-form Treaty United march on to their first ever FAI Cup semi-final after teaching the young students a lesson.
Treaty United: Conor Winn; Mark Ludden, Sean Guerins, Callum McNamara, Dean George (Joe Collins 77); Stephen Christopher (Joel Coustrain 88), Lee Devitt (Matt Keane 88), Willie Armshaw (Conor Melody 77), Enda Curran (Success Edogun 60); Ben O’Riordan, Mark Walsh.
UCD: Kian Moore; Evan Osam, Jack Keany, Mark Dignam (Alex Nolan 53), Evan Caffrey; Dylan Duffy, Alex Dunne (Donal Higgins 53), Dara Keane, Sean Brennan (Harry O’Connor 74); Sam Todd, Thomas Lonergan.
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