Season Review 2020: UCD

Team: UCD

Manager: Andy Myler

Top Scorer: Yoyo Mahdy (15 league goals).

Stadium: UCD Bowl.

Highest Attendance: 116 (1-0 win v Cobh Ramblers, Friday 28 February).

Lowest Attendance: 0.

Star Player: Yoyo Mahdy

16 league goals to his names, with 15 in the league and another in the play-off defeat to Longford Town – Yoyo Mahdy enjoyed a stellar 2020 campaign.

The 22-year-old made 19 appearances for Andy Myler’s young guns this season, and his impact was telling.

The in-form forward combined well with fellow striking partner Colm Whelan to propel UCD to the playoffs – despite not much being expected of the group this season.

Following his goalscoring exploits of 2020, Mahdy will certainly be on the radar of plenty of other clubs – most of whom will be crying out for a forward possessing his goalscoring ability.

Best Young Player: Evan Weir

Another in the long line of UCD’s conveyor belt of young talent – teenage full-back Evan Weir enjoyed a superb 2020 season for the Students.

Weir made his league debut in February 2020 on the opening night of the season away to Wexford – and he has never looked back since.

The former Belvedere schoolboy rose through the UCD ranks at under-17 level to earn his shot at first-team level in 2020. And take it he has.

In addition to making 16 appearances, the left-back has also scored four goals in his first year of senior football.

Best New Signing: Colm Whelan

In truth, you could easily make a case for Colm Whelan in each of the above categories such was the impact the Kilkenny native made in his first year of competitive action with UCD.

Whelan joined the Students from Waterford’s under-19 set-up during the off-season, and after impressing in the CUFL and Collingwood Cup, he quickly made his impact in the First Division.

Overall, Whelan netted 15 goals during his first season of competitive League of Ireland football while also making 19 league appearances.

Even though he could not help fire UCD to playoff/promotion glory, Whelan can look back on the 2020 campaign with plenty of positives to take from it.

What we expected they would do: 6^th

The Extratime.com team predicted UCD just to miss out on the First Division Playoffs by finishing in 6^th position after a turbulent year in the top-flight in 2019.

However, they would confound our expectations and finish in 3^rd position, earning a home playoff semi-final tie against Longford.

What they actually did:

First Division

Ultimately it was playoff heartbreak for UCD, but they can be proud of their 2020 efforts with a revamped squad.

Only a select few from last season’s squad remained at the UCD Bowl ahead of the 2020 season, and there was a new manager to boot.

Manager Andy Myler promoted several young guns to his starting side, Evan Weir, Lorcan Healy and Colm Whelan to mention just a few.

Results on the whole were good for UCD, with their attacking intent being duly rewarded with a plethora of goals going in their favour.

They would eventually score an incredible 44 league goals, with 29 of them coming from striking duo Yoyo Mahdy and Whelan.

The Students had to wait until the final day to secure their spot in the First Division playoffs, but it was more or less confirmed as they defeated local rivals Cabinteely 5-1 at home.

They did of course stick a number of goals past numerous sides – ask Wexford and Cobh fans about that one – but they did also concede costly goals.

Myler’s side conceded 29 goals in their league season – and that would prove to come to their detriment.

Silly goals put pay to their title ambitions – and it was the silly goals that also ended their playoff dream.

A playoff defeat was no disgrace at all for UCD, but they will certainly be left pondering what might have been.

FAI Cup

If their league campaign had a ‘what might have been’ feeling, their FAI Cup campaign would have no such feeling associated with it.

They were defeated in their FAI Cup opener at home to Sligo Rovers despite taking an early lead.

However, cup success was never really a demand at the UCD Bowl – not that it ever is – so it is unlikely that there will be much disappointment with their short-lived cup campaign.

What they need to improve on for next year:

In fairness to UCD, there’s not an awful lot that they can do in regard to player recruitment such is the nature of the environment the club find themselves in.

And that’s not to say that is a bad thing either. As it has shown in recent years at the club, there are several benefits that come with their current scholarship model in place.

As far as 2021 goes – UCD just need to keep doing what they were beginning to do during the 2020 season.

However, saying that, they do need to stop the flow of goals going against their favour.

It is also unclear as to what senior players will stay or move onto pastures new – so that will be something to be mindful of when looking at UCD in 2021.

In essence, should UCD cut out their silly defensive errors and maintain their attacking prowess, they have a chance of enjoying a special 2021 First Division campaign.