Momentum demands movement and Mark Dignam feels UCD are finally going in the right direction at just the right time.
Locked in a ferocious arm wrestle with Finn Harps all season, the relegation rivals go head-to-head in Donegal tonight in a game the hosts cannot afford to lose.
Harps will drop into the First Division if they crash and burn on their home patch, but a result for Ollie Horgan’s men will force the issue to the final day.
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Harps - five goals better off - go to Drogheda on Sunday week while UCD host newly crowned champions Shamrock Rovers, but Dignam is hoping it won’t come to that.
UCD have found momentum hard to come by.
But the Students have also hit a timely bit of form after beating Drogheda 2-1 last week and drawing 1-1 away to Shelbourne on Monday.
And Dignam’s goal at Tolka Park sets it up for UCD tonight where victory will ensure they avoid the drop for now and take their chances in the playoffs.
Dignam said: “It’s all momentum isn’t it? A good result last Friday and a good result on Monday. Hopefully we can follow it up with a big one against Harps.
“We would take any cushion going up there and we’re delighted to at least have a slight advantage.
“Still, we know we have to win it and we can’t think about anything else. We have to win the game tonight.”
A recent Economics and Finance graduate and now working in ventures and acquisitions, midfielder Dignam comes from good footballing stock.
His father Keith Dignam was in the UCD team that beat Shamrock Rovers in the 1984 FAI Cup final - after a replay.
Dignam Snr was also the first recipient of UCD’s soccer scholarship when introduced by the legendary Dr Tony O’Neill in 1979.
But after battling back from injury in recent weeks, his son Mark is eager to make his own name with the Students by keeping them in the top flight.
And he insists UCD have the belief to get the job done at Finn Park before taking their chance in the playoffs.
“100 percent,” said Dignam. “We haven’t lost to them all season so hopefully we can follow it up with a final win.
“We probably shouldn’t be in this position. We believe in the players we have. We know what we have and it should be enough tonight.”
Dignam, 23, feels UCD left points behind and added: “Things haven’t gone our way. We’ve a small squad and we’ve struggled with injuries.
“But we were 2-1 down against Dundalk and won 3-2. We won against Drogheda and drew at Shelbourne. The character of the squad is definitely there.
“I think we’re a close group and there’s that fight between us as everyone of us knows what’s at stake.
“You’re looking at the lad beside you and thinking we’re in this together. Maybe other clubs might not have that.”
Harps, looking to stay in the top flight for a fifth successie season, will say the same ahead of their make-or-break night.
But Dignam, in his eighth year with the club, added: “We just think of ourselves. There’s no point thinking about what’s going on up in Harps. Hopefully we’ll do it tonight.”
UCD boss Andy Myler will look to mastermind the survival mission from the stands tonight as he continues to serve a touchline ban.
The College boss was slapped with a four-match suspension following his dismissal against Sligo Rovers - his second of the season.
Myler said: “When you get to this part of the season it’s only about results. We’ve a massive game tonight and need a result and another against Rovers in the last game.
“We’re not going to get away so easily that we won't have to play right up until the last minute of the last day of the league.
“I don’t think you can go to places with young teams and just sit in, and soak that up for 90 minutes. You just won’t do it. Our cohort of players, that’s not how they have learned to play the game. You have to be a threat.”
UCD have battled the drop all season but Myler insists he and his players have relished the challenge and never saw it as a ‘chore’.
He added: “I haven't seen it as a difficult season. We want this again next year and there’s no motivation needed from the boys.
“They know with another season in the Premier that they’ll be much better players, we’ll be better coaches and the club will be a better club.”
