ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC and UCD played out an amazing 2-2 draw in a game that saw the Saints finish with nine men and the Students with ten.

It was far from a dirty game as all the red cards were for technical offences but the Students will be the happier side after battling back from 2-0 down to claim a share of the spoils.

The Saints started brilliantly with young defender Jake Carroll doing very well on the left to produce a deep cross which Sean O’Connor swept home on the volley for a fifth minute opener.

 Winger O’Connor was making another debut for the home side after signing from Limerick FC following a previous spell with Shamrock Rovers.

 David McMillan then produced a stunning long range effort that flew past UCD keeper Ger Barron and rattled the butt of the keeper’s right post to deny McMillan a spectacular goal against his former side.

 After a tentative start, the Students suddenly sparked into life and had a brilliant 20 minutes when they really should have put the home side out of sight. In the end it was remarkable that they failed to find an equaliser.

 Graham Rusk could have had a hat-trick in that time span but a combination of top class keeping from Gary Rogers and poor finishing denied Rusk a goal.

 Rusk thought he only had to tap home at the back post in the 23rd minute after latching onto a low ball across goal from Darren Meenan but Rogers made a fantastic save with his feet.

 Four minutes later Rusk showed excellent movement to get on the end of a right wing cross by Sean Harding but he was unfortunate to his header drift narrowly wide.

 Rusk then had a shot cleared off the line by Derek Pender in the 35th minute after Robbie Creevy had nodded the ball down from a left wing cross.

Less than a minute later Harding showed real determination to burst in from the right flank. His poked effort was parried by Rogers but then the loose ball fell for Rusk, he saw his shot pushed away once more by the home keeper.

The relentless pressure on the home goal continued 60 seconds later when Rogers was forced into an incredible save to push over a close range Paul O’Connor volley after a Rusk strike struck a defender.

For all that domination it was perhaps inevitable that UCD would pay the price for failing to take their chances.

David McMillan made it 2-0 with a real a screamer of an effort from 35 yards out that flew into the top corner of the visitors’ net. It was a real goal of the season contender.

McMillan might have increased his tally three minutes into the second half but Barron made a good save and when the defence failed to clear, McMillan pounced on the loose ball only for the Students keeper to push wide.

After doing so well in the first half, Rogers suffered the disappointment of a red card in the 67th minute.

The keeper was unfortunate in being sold short by an under-hit Conor Kenna back pass and he was beaten to the ball by the speedy Meenan. Rogers clipped the winger and a penalty was the obvious result and unfortunately for the Saints so was a red card in a ‘last man’ situation.

It took four minutes to get sub keeper Chris Bennion on the pitch but Dean Marshall kept his nerve and converted the spot-kick.

Less than a minute later the sides were level. Harding produced a testing cross from the right and Rusk arrived on cue to head past Bennion – who had yet to touch the ball in play since coming on as substitute.

Dave Mulcahy thought he’d snatched a winner for St Pat’s in the 82nd minute when he lobbed keeper Barron after a ball over the top by Shane McFaul. The ball drifted narrowly wide but referee Derek Tomney surprisingly gave a free out against Mulcahy for high feet.

Bennion had to stretch to push a Paul O’Connor strike wide in the 86th minute as the Students looked to seal a memorable turnaround victory.

After coming close to grabbing that winner, UCD suffered a blow when Meenan was shown a red card in the 93rd minute for a second bookable offence.

McFaul then bizarrely joined Rogers and Meenan on the sidelines for a second bookable offence in the 95th minute after apparently taking a free-kick before the referee whistled to do so. It was an aptly unusual end to a peculiar game.

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Rogers; Pender, Carroll, Kenna, E McMillan, S O’Connor (Bennion 70), Bradley (Crowley 41), Mulcahy, Doyle, D McMillan, Kavanagh (McFaul 46).

UCD: Barron; Harding, Nangle, D O’Connor, Leahy, Meenan, Corry (Ledwith 82), Creevy (Russell 65), Marshall, Rusk, P O’Connor.

Referee: D Tomney (Dublin)