UCD secured a crucial away point when Graham Rusk netted in injury time to seal a 1-1 draw with St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park.

There was little between the two Dublin clubs for the majority of the first period, but pressure from the home side eventually led to midfielder Murphy breaking the deadlock.

Excellent work by striker Danny North to win possession sparked the move off as he squared to Ian Daly, whose mis-hit shot landed in front of 28-year-old Murphy to fire in.

Everything appeared to be swinging their way until the final minute of added time when Darren Meenan slid the ball into Rusk and he shot in from a tight angle.

The Saints were desperate to take the three points from this encounter and made some changes to their team. In the starting, they had no less than six former UCD players.

Yet it was the visitors who threatened first when striker Graham Rusk attempted an ambitious backheel, but it lacked the necessary venom to beat keeper Gary Rogers.

Martin Russell’s side – set up in a 4-4-1-1 formation – impressed in flashes with their swift passing style with the central midfield pairing of Paul Corry and Robbie Creevy standing out. However, the home team were always going to be dangerous. Daly, in particular, continued to roam into good positions and went close on 17 minutes when he headed over.

The former Manchester City trainee had the ball in the back of the net just past the half hour mark when he lobbed UCD keeper Ger Barron, but it was ruled out for offside. Just a minute later the Saints felt that they were denied a penalty when Derek Doyle’s shot was blocked by Paul O’Conor – although referee Paul Tuite adjudged that it did not strike the player’s arm.

The momentum was clearly with the Inchicore outfit as Shane McFaul volleyed wide before North and Daly combined for Murphy’s goal just before the break. After the interval, it was more of the same from the Saints.

They worked hard, broke forward at every opportunity yet lacked that cutting edge in front of goal. The perfect example was provided by Daly when he wasted a chance to make it 2-0. North tried to take the responsibilty on himself when he cleverly turned his marker inside the UCD penalty area, but just as he was about to pull the trigger Creevy made a superb tackle.

The visitors then looked to level the scores when the impressive David O’Connor rose up highest to meet a set-piece and powered his header towards goal. But Rogers was on full alert to deal with it. The shot-stopper then had to palm away a deflected shot as UCD roamed forward with purpose before substitute Daniel Ledwith curled a free-kick over and Robbie Benson blasted wide.

With the clock ticking into injury time, North broke free with the goal at his mercy. The striker only had Barron to beat, but fired over from the edge of the penalty area. Then Rusk provided the bitter blow when he found himself in a great position to execute a sweet strike after good work from Meenan.

The win should have gone to the hosts, but UCD will take a lot of confidence from this.

St Patrick’s Athletic: Rogers; Pender, E McMillan, Shortall, Bermingham; Murphy (D Kavanagh 90), McFaul, Mulcahy (Crowley 59), D Doyle; North, Daly (D McMillan 77).

UCD: Barron; O’Conor, Leahy, O’Connor, Nangle; Meenan, Corry (Ledwith 68), Creevy; Langtry (Belhout 68); Marshall (Benson 78); Rusk.

Referee: P Tuite (Dublin).