2023 Season Review: UCD

Team: UCD

Head Coach: Andy Myler

Top Scorer: Danu Kinsella Bishop (6 league goals)

Stadium: UCD Bowl

Highest Attendance: 1673 (v Shamrock Rovers in May)

Lowest Attendance: 317 (v Cork City in October)

Star Player: Jack Keaney

Having just departed for Drogheda United, the Donegal native was previously a stalwart at Belfield having arrived from Sligo Rovers as a teenage midfielder in the summer of 2019. Recently repositioned in the centre of the UCD defence, the 24 year old played in 34 of The Students’ 36 league games in 2023.

With an average of 30.4 accurate passes per game (69% accuracy), Keaney made an average of 4 passes more than any other UCD player throughout the season- Adam Wells next up with 26 passes at 70% accuracy. 

In terms of interceptions, he also shone, with his average of 1.3 interceptions per game the joint highest at the club alongside Michael Gallagher.

His average of 4.3 clearances is the third highest in the league with teammate Harvey O’Brien's 3.4 just outside the top ten.

While these statistics, courtesy of sofascore.com, paint a picture of Keaney as a totemic figure in the defence, his influence on his teammates extends beyond figures. 

Having held the captain's armband for the past four years, he picked up the UCD Supporters Club Player of the Year this season and assisted in the development of a number of centre half partners throughout the season.

His presence will be sorely missed in the UCD backline, however the likes of Harvey O’Brien, Adam Wells and Harry Curtis are well placed to step up to the plate in 2024.

Ex Waterford midfielder Dara Keane is another whose star shone brightly during 2023 with a busy season in the UCD engine room, suffering an average of 2.49 fouls per 90 minutes- fourth highest in the league per Wyscout, while his 17.14 aerial duels per 90 minutes was a league high.

Rounding out the top three nominations is top scorer Danu Kinsella Bishop. The 21 year old’s six league goals from 12 starts, including a Goal of the Month winner in October against Shelbourne, saw a promising return to the League of Ireland for the forward who also experienced Collingwood Cup and Leinster Senior League success in the past twelve months.

Best Young Player: Jesse Dempsey

Unlike a number of Premier Division clubs, UCD have a plethora of nominees here. 

Whether it's the likes of  Daniel Babb (17) and Jesse Dempsey (18) or 18 year old pair Jake Doyle or Luke O’Regan, The Students have fielded plenty of youth- injury depriving the promising Divine Izekor (18) and Mikey Raggett (19) of having a greater influence over the season.

As we're restricting this award to teenagers, the 20 year old pair of Danny Norris and Adam Wells can count themselves unfortunate not to be in contention as both showed plenty of promise throughout a challenging season for The Students. 

Similarly, Alex Nolan- who turned 20 during the season - performed well before leaving to join FAI Cup winners St Patrick's Athletic.

Having started the year playing with the Republic of Ireland Schoolboys side, a series of fine displays from Dempsey throughout the season saw the left footer from Wexford called up to Tom Mohan's Republic of Ireland Under 19 squad for their autumn friendlies alongside O’Regan and Babb.

Across his 21 Premier Division games, the defender showed a level of maturity beyond that expected of someone who only sat his Leaving Certificate this summer while also featuring in sofascore.com’s top 50 LOI players in both Tackling, Interceptions and also Clearances per 90 minutes.

Best New Signing: Éanna Clancy 

While the return of Adam Verdon and Seán Brennan added some experience to a youthful side, as they had previously represented the southsiders they remain ineligible for nomination here. 

The midseason arrival of Éanna Clancy helped offset somewhat the departure of Sam Todd to Derry City as did Harry Curtis’ July signing.

With Clancy playing all bar 45 minutes of the final six league games, he gets the nod here ahead of the promising former Wexford defender. 

The former Sligo Rovers centre half wasted no time in settling into the ball playing style of The Students and ended the season in the top 10 players for average progressive passes per game (9th) and average passes into the final third (6th), according to Wyscout data.

However, from a defensive aspect he also performed admirably as the number crunchers at Wyscout recorded his average of 8.02 interceptions as the second highest in the league while his 1.22 blocked shots per 90 minutes average tops the league charts. 

Incidentally, his UCD team mate Harvey O’Brien also featured highly in both.

What we expected they would do:

Having survived the drop in 2022, our staff writers predicted that 2023 would be the season that The Students returned to the First Division with a tenth place finish in the league.

What they actually did:

Despite a promising opening day draw at Oriel Park, it took ten league games for their first win of the campaign (1-0 at home to fellow strugglers Cork City). 

With 9 points taken from the first 69 available, UCD were in real trouble from July and they went on to take just two more points and ended the season well adrift at the foot of the table.

In the FAI Cup, a spirited 3-2 victory over Cobh Ramblers was followed by a 5-1 mauling courtesy of Galway United in a refixed tie, after the weather caused the initial fixture to suffer an early termination.

What they need to improve on for next year:

With the departures of netminder Lorcan Healy and Jack Keaney, incoming boss William O’Connor wasted no time in taking former Waterford under-19 goalkeeper Dara Kavanagh and the evergreen Ronan Finn to Belfield. 

With the experienced Michael Gallagher and Dara Keane also finishing up their studies, another few signings with League of Ireland experience may help boost their promotion challenge. 

Exciting winger Mikey McCullagh who will arrive from Galway United fits the bill here as he has been around the senior squad for a couple of seasons.

Having conceded a league high 96 goals last season and netted the fewest with 19, it doesn't take a forensic investigation to uncover areas for improvement. 

However, dropping down to the First Division and the likes of Dempsey, Babb and Curtis settling into their second seasons alongside the return of Harvey O'Brien from an injury hit 2023, should mean less concessions.

While at the other end of the field, McCullagh and a fully fit pairing of Raggett and Lennon Gill to add to the attacking prowess of Verdon, Brennan, Behan and Kinsella Bishop gives O’Connor a good selection headache.