This is exactly what the doctor would have ordered ahead of Monday night's second leg of the League Cup.

Leading 3-1 from the first day, St Patrick's Athletic can now head to Belfield with all the confidence they need to secure the silverware.

The result now tightens their grip on a European place this summer - and jumps them ahead of Bohemians in second place as a result of what happened across town.

For UCD, the sight of such late goals from Michael Holt and Liam Kelly adds further fears to their drop towards the relegation zone.

Just when the first half appeared certain to end without any excitement, UCD took the lead. Seamus Kelly failed to connect to a floating corner from Eoin Bennis and Clive Delaney looked genuinely surprised at how easy he could flick the ball into the net.

Robbie McGuinness set up substitute Holt for the equaliser. The clock read 89 minutes. And worse was to come when Kelly beat Barry Ryan to a lose ball and claimed the winner.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: S Kelly; Burke, Foley, S McGuinness, Croly (Holt 69 mins); R McGuinness, Osam (Maguire, half-time), Griffin, Russell (Drew 78 mins); McCarthy, L Kelly.

UCD: Ryan; Mahon, Delaney, McAuley, O'Donnell; Bennis, McDonnell, Martyn, O'Mara (Kavanagh 70 mins); Fitzpatrick (Martin 69 mins), Swan.

Referee: A O'Regan (Cork).