UCD: 1
F91 Dudelange: 0
Stephen Doyle at the UCD Bowl.
Ryan Swan's excellent finish just before the break ensured that UCD go to Luxembourg next week with the advantage and just as importantly, thanks to an excellent defensive effort, they also managed to stop the visitors from scoring an away goal.
For most of the first-half it was the club from Luxembourg that did all of the attacking and in the 5th minute, from a defensive point of view, Tomas Boyle set the tone for UCD with a great challenge.
Dudelange hit the Students on the first of many breaks with the very impressive right winger Sofian Benzouien leading the attack but Boyle moved out to execute a well timed tackle to clear the ball and the man.
Benzouien was threatening again just 5 minutes later and whipped in a really dangerous cross from the right but Mark Langtry blocked and cleared the ball to kill another attack from the visitors.
UCD goalkeeper Niall Corbet put in a very good performance on the night and just after the half-hour mark smothered the ball and gathered in a very dangerous one-on-one situation with that man again, Benzouien.
His best save came just before the goal when striker Gregory Adler hit a powerful drive from 20 yards but Corbet dived left and low to put it wide.
Then seconds later up the other end Robbie Benson dispossessed midfielder Joel Pedro before turning and playing an excellent through ball that took out two defenders.
Swan latched onto the inch perfect pass before running at the onrushing goalkeeper, capped 77 times by Luxembourg, and the teenager slipped it under his body, as cool as a cucumber.
The second-half was mainly more of the same although Dudelange regressed slightly and looked to be tiring the longer the game went on.
The one attack they should have scored from came midway through the second-half with Daniel Da Mota breaking at speed supported by two men in yellow.
He opted for a sweeping crossfield pass to substitute David Turpel on the right who could have played a one-two for a certain goal but he blasted it wide and with that the visiting team's shoulders looked to visibly drop.
The host's backs were not to the wall for the whole second-half and they looked dangerous on the occasions when they did get close to the goal.
Dylan Watts almost scored what could have been the goal of the night in the Europa League when he pounced on a cross from Chris Mulhall and teed it up for himself before hitting a beautiful volley off the crossbar from 18 yards in the 74th minute.
The Students closed out what is a famous win for the College and the only win for a League of Ireland club in Europe this week.
UCD: Corbet, Langtry, Leahy, O'Neill, Benson, Mulhall, McLaughlin, Swan, Doyle, Boyle, Watts (Watson, 90+2). Substitutes: Coyne, Belhout, Cannon, O'Connor, Mackey, Kouogun.
F91 Dudelange: Joubert, De Sousa, Ney, Schnell, Ibrahimovic, Da Mota (Lauriente 74), Benzouien, Pedro, Nakache, Prempeh, Adler (Turpel 58). Substitutes: De Sousa, Deligny, Teixeira, Clepkens, Maury, Lauriente, Turpel.
