UCD dished out some harsh lessons to relegation-troubled Kilkenny in Saturday's FAI Cup clash at Buckley Park.

Just past the half hour the students were already two up (Ciaran Kavanagh and Jason Sherlock) which prompted the withdrawal of Kilkenny defenders Eric Smith and Paul Deveraux, and their replacement brought some calm to the defence

However, UCD continued to impress with their pass-and-go football and when full-back Damian Bolger charged through from midfield for the third goal in the 67th minute, it was all well and truly over.

UCD opened their account in the 20th minute when a nice touch by Michael O'Byrne sent Ciaran Kavanagh clear on the right and he finished confidently. The second goal came in the 35th minute when Jason Sherlock latched on to a Robert Griffin pass and left two defenders for dead before calmly slotting the ball home.

Early in the second half Kilkenny had a half-hearted penalty appeal turned down when Richie Hale went down in the box, and their despair was made even worse when Bolger struck goal number three. The visitors rounded off a most impressive night's work with their fourth goal in the 91st minute from Sherlock.

Kilkenny City: J Connolly, C Maher, P Deveraux, T Hall, E Smith, D Walsh, P Cashin, J Power, B Honan, R Hale, B Rea. Subs: R Walsh for Deveraux (43 mins); K Kelly for Smith (43 mins); A O'Connor for K Kelly (76 mins).

UCD: S Kelly, D Bolger, D Fitzgerald, T Palmer, A Lynch, R Griffin, C Kavanagh, J Martin, J Sherlock, M O'Byrne, M O'Donnell.

Referee: J McDermott (Dublin).