Cobh Ramblers 2 UD 0:UCD BOSS Pete Mahon has conceded that it will be a "tall order" for his side to stay in the eircom Premier Division after a loss at St Colman's Park on Saturday evening helped move Cobh Ramblers out of the bottom three.
Davin O'Neill struck twice, a 21st minute header and 63rd minute chip over visiting keeper Matt Gregg, to ensure the southern outfit now have a decent chance of survival in the Premier Division after Finn Harps loss on Friday evening at home to Sligo Rovers.
"That's one defeat in eight, four clean sheets on the trot and we are out of the bottom three for the first time all season," pointed out a delighted Stephen Henderson afterwards. "At times, we looked and played like a team at the top of the table and, at other times, we looked a bit ordinary and we were poor for 10 or 15 minutes there in the first half.
"When the first goal went in, it sort of relaxed us a bit and we started to play a bit then and we started to do what we do in training but UCD never gave up the fight."
O'Neill's opener was his third in two games and came from a Coleman cross which he converted past a helpless Gregg. The second was worked by O'Neill himself when he won the ball from defender Conor Kenna and then lobbed the ball over Gregg's head.
"It's all like a mirror of last year and I remember sitting down watching the telly begging Athlone to score against Finn Harps for us and give us a chance of overtaking them. (On Friday) night I was willing the ball into the net for Sligo so we could have a chance tonight and once again my players came out and responded in the best possible way.
"We are out of the relegation zone now and we have our teeth into the fight to stay up and we will just have to keep going for broke now. We have Bray away, Bohs at home and then Derry at the Brandywell but there's no point in us setting targets because you will only let yourself down in the end."
Mahon, meanwhile, was understandably downbeat.
"We haven't managed to keep too many clean sheets this year and that tells it's own story and we have only scored 19 goals in 30 games and that's horrendous. We haven't had a recognised goal-scorer at the club since Mick O'Byrne and that's a long time ago but that's been our downfall.
"Our run-in is Bohs, St Pat's and Galway but we will take a while to recover from this setback. It's between Cobh and Galway to stay up now and get out of trouble.
"I think ourselves and Finn Harps are in free-fall. We need seven points from the last three games now - that's two wins and a draw to stay up and that's a tall order against the opposition we are up against on the run-in."
COBH:J McCarthy; K Coleman, S Guthrie, K Murray, J Meade; C O'Brien; A Carey, J Kearney, G O'Halloran, D O'Neill; R Gaynor (D Kavanagh, 82).
UCD;M Gregg; B Shortall (G Bolger, 82), I Bermingham, C Kenna, A McNally; S McFaul (S Fitzgerald, 70), R Finn, T Purcell, D Meenan (S Duggan, 70); B King, P McWalter.
Referee:Damien Hancock (Dublin).
