Cork City increase advantage with draw at UCD

Cork City stretched their lead at the top of the First Division on Friday night with a scoreless draw away to UCD.

The Leesiders came into Friday night's clash three points clear of second-placed Finn Harps.

But following their point in Belfield and Harps’ 1-0 loss away to Athlone Town, City managed to extend their advantage at the summit in a drab display.

Seeking a win to keep their First Division title hopes alive, UCD made three swaps from their draw against Finn Harps last weekend.

The suspended Mikey McCullagh dropped out of the starting XI, as did Luke O’Regan and Harvey O’Brien, while Colin Bolton made his first start of the season for the Students.

But City remained unchanged from their Cork derby win over Cobh Ramblers on the same night - and they started well.

That was despite a protest held by the match officials before the game, with the fixture beginning at 7.55pm.

But Tim Clancy’s side’s only sight of goal inside the first 10 minutes came from Evan McLaughlin as he curled a speculative effort just over the bar.

UCD settled into the game soon after and they had their first sight of goal through Ciaran Behan’s free-kick after 16 minutes.

But they should have scored midway through the opening period through defender Harry Curtis.

The former Wexford underage prospect headed wide when unmarked in the penalty area after MIkey Raggett put Behan’s corner-kick into the six-yard with a smart touch at the back post.

Sean Brennan then fired over the bar from long-range for the hosts as they began to control proceedings.

The game became scrappy soon after with neither side able to stamp their authority on this promotion six-pointer in Dublin 4.

But despite the sides heading into the break on level terms, City could have taken the