Rovers and Students must do it all again

Shamrock Rovers 2 UCD 2

UCD came from 2-0 down to force ten-man Shamrock Rovers into an FAI Ford Cup fourth round replay they could well do without.

The sides meet again at the UCD Bowl next Monday.

Karl Sheppard latched onto substitute Ronan Finn’s through pass on 61 minutes to turn well and blast past Ger Barron to give Rovers the lead.

Ciaran Kilduff then rose well to power home with his head from a sublime cross in from the right by Pat Sullivan nine minutes later.

But UCD, who’d lost 6-0 on a recent visit to Tallaght, pulled a goal back on 73 minutes when substitute Samir Belhout ran clear onto Darren Meenan’s through ball to shoot past Ryan Thompson.

Rovers had defender Pat Flynn sent off for pulling down Belhout on 80 minutes.

And a minute later man-of-the-match Meenan crossed for Robbie Creevy to head UCD level.