Finn Harps bring the curtain down on the first quarter of the 2014 campaign when they make their shortest away trip of the First Division season on Saturday as the face First Division title favourites Longford Town at the City Calling Stadium (kick-off 7.45pm).
Longford come into the game on the back of a shock defeat against Shamrock Rovers ‘B’ last weekend, but Harps boss Ollie Horgan still knows they will prove a formidable opponent on Saturday.
“Longford have the best panel of players in our Division,” said Horgan of his fortcoming opponents. “The fact that they lost last day out makes no difference other than we might suffer a backlash from them.
“They have serious players all over the field and on the bench too,” he said. “Stephen Rice, Pat Sullivan and Pat Flynn all won the league with Shamrock Rovers just a couple years ago. David O’Sullivan, Gary Shaw and Don Cowen amongst others give them power and pace up front. They also have Kevin O’Connor and Sean Russell who they have signed from Premier Division teams.”
Last Friday, Harps had to fight back for a 1-1 in a game that turned on the sending off of defender Keith Cowan in the first half.
“We played well during the first half on Friday night until sending off,” said Horgan. “But, the whole game changed after that. I felt we were in control of game up to that point and had a decent goal disallowed but in the end were fortunate to get a result at all.
“Keith raised a ‘finger’ to Danny Furlong who fell rather dramatically to the ground, so according to the letter of the law he was sent off. However, neither player came out of incident with much credit.”
Harps have conceded four goals in their six First Division games this season, with only one of them coming from open play. Horgan has preached all season about defending from set-pieces and is probably a bit disappointed that the majority of goals conceded have come from set plays.
“We conceded against Galway from a throw in that should have been cleared, a direct free kick and penalty in Shelbourne but Wexford’s goal should have been dealt with. Killian Cantwell got a free header near the back post initially and ball travelled good distance to other side of goal and overall it was poor defending on our part.
Harps have had some success against Saturday opponents in Longford in recent times. Prior to last season’s 3-1 defeat, Harps had won on each of their previous three visits to the midlands.
Josh Mailey and Keith Cowan are both suspended for Saturday’s game, meaning that Caoimhin Bonner is in line for his first start of the season. Kevin McHugh, who has only played in the opening game of the season, remains out with a hamstring complaint.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TEAM NEWS
Suspended: Josh Mailey, Keith Cowan.
Doubtful: None.
Injured: Kevin McHugh (hamstring).
Form Guide (last six league games)
Finn Harps: D-W-W-D-L-D (9 pts)
Longford Town: W-W-L-W-D-L (10 pts)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last six away games v Longford Town
03-Jun-11 Longford Town 0-0 Finn Harps (FAI Cup)
09-Jul-11 Longford Town 3-2 Finn Harps (First Division)
14-Apr-12 Longford Town 1-3 Finn Harps (First Division)
11-Aug-12 Longford Town 0-1 Finn Harps (First Division)
11-May-13 Longford Town 2-3 Finn Harps (First Division)
07-Sep-13 Longford Town 3-1 Finn Harps (First Division)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finn Harps Goalscorers 2014
Pat McCann – 3
Ruairi Keating – 3 (1 in League Cup)
Keith Cowan – 1
James Doherty – 1
Michael Funston – 1
Paul McVeigh – 1
Carel Tiofack – 1
Sean McCarron – 1 (in League Cup)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finn Harps Results 2014 (Finn Harps scorers in brackets)
11-Apr-2014 – Lg – Finn Harps 1-1 Wexford Youths (Keating)
04-Apr-2014 – Lg – Shelbourne 2-0 Finn Harps
29-Mar-2014 – Lg – Finn Harps 1-1 Galway FC (McVeigh)
21-Mar-2014 – Lg – Finn Harps 5-0 Cobh Ramblers (Doherty, Tiofack, McCann 2, Keating)
16-Mar-2014 – Lg – Shamrock Rovers B 0-3 Finn Harps (Cowan, Funston, McCann)
10-Mar-2014 – LC – Finn Harps 3-2 Cockhill Celtic (McCarron, O’Donnell o.g., Keating)
07-Mar-2014 – Lg – Finn Harps 0-0 Waterford United
Tags:
