DROGHEDA United succumbed to a lightning fast display from Premier Division new boys UCD on Friday night. A Ciaran Kilduff brace either side of a Greg Bolger strike gave the visitors all three points and consigned Alan Mathews' side to the foot of the table. A win for the Boynesiders would have equalled their points tally from the first 10 games of last season, but it wasn't to be as the First Division champions got their league campaign off to the best possible start.

The visitors opened the scoring on the hour mark when Kilduff's blistering pace took him past Jamie Harris and the striker fired low from close range to put the ball under the diving Paul Skinner. Five minutes later the result was academic as Greg Bolger doubled the Students' advantage.

Keith Ward took possession on the left wing and picked out the un-marked Bolger with a short pass and the midfielder raced into the void in defence left by Harris and McNally and the rifled a shot home from close range, leaving Skinner with no chance.

The rout was completed right on 90 minutes with a fine solo effort from Kilduff, some hesitation in the Drogheda midfield allowing the speedster to gain possession, and he made a bee-line for the Drogheda box, angling toward the bottom right corner but wrong-footing Skinner with a flick to the left.

Mathews had named six new faces, signed in recent weeks, in the Drogheda side – and with the exception of Alan McNally a whole new defence and attack, midfield remaining the only area of the pitch showing a semblance to last season's squad.

John Flood and Glen Fitzpatrick led the attack but for the most part were kept out of the danger area due to a well organised UCD defence, Flood regularly dropped back to midfield in an attempt to gain possession and create some movement.

The Students looked to have done their homework as right from the off they moved the ball quickly and decisively through midfield, Ciraran Mulhall almost carving out the opening goal after only four minutes. An angled ball into the box from the right wing was met by the rising head of Kilduff who failed to keep his effort down and saw it sail over the Drogheda crossbar.

Drogheda looked to have stemmed the tide and created an excellent chance to take the lead after only 10 minutes. Fitzpatrick lofted in a ball to the box which was taken down by the chest of Robbie Martin right in front of the UCD goal, but rather than shoot the midfielder passed to Brendan McGill whose shot was saved by Billy Brennan.

Drogheda were always playing second fiddle in the first half, struggling to deal with the fast UCD attacks and also giving away needless free kicks.

Martin Russell's side looked to have opened the scoring after 18 minutes when Kilduff was clean through facing an on-rushing Skinner, but his neat lob rebounded off the underside of the crossbar and was hacked away by the Drogheda rearguard.

Kilduff spurned a series of chances as it became obvious the Drogheda defence couldn't handle him. Twice in six minutes he beat the Drogheda defence to go one on one with Skinner, but he managed to blaze both efforts wide.

Mathews' half-time talk seemed to work as Drogheda came out fighting in the second half and won a free right on the edge of the UCD box after the restart. Fitzpatrick stood up to take it but smashed his effort right into the wall. However he caught the rebound on the half-volley and that effort skimmed the wrong side of the post.

Kilduff scorned a glorious chance from seven yards out just before he finally converted a chance, and once the second goal went in Drogheda really looked like a beaten side. The introduction of Paul Crowley after the first goal did little to stem the midfield pressure piled on by the Students.

Drogheda were reduced to efforts from outside the box as their opponents switched to a 4-5-1 formation in an attempt to shore up the win. Flood and Fitzpatrick failed to break thorugh some sloppy passing didn't help their cause.

Jamie Duffy was brought on with 14 minutes remaining and even he found it difficult, with UCD retaining possesion and becoming hard to break down.

Eventually Drogheda were exposed while searching for a way into the game, and Kilduff completed the demolition right on full-time to force many to rethink the top-half aspiration that Drogheda may have.

The Boynesiders now face a daunting task to Oriel Park in what will be a live televised clash on RTE.

Although there were no injureis to any of the Claret and Blue players, Mathews will certainly be considering his selection after the below-par performance on Friday night.