Ollie Horgan and his assistant Paul Hegarty faced a big challenge this week to get the Finn Harps players over the very disappointing Wexford Youths defeat ahead of this Friday night’s clash with Bohemians at Dalymount Park (kick-off 7.45).
And there is the added blow of being without dependable defender Damian McNulty for up to eight weeks due a knee medial ligament injury.
But, as Horgan said earlier this week the team has to move on now and try to get something out of the Bohs match which won’t be easy. Harps are just a point above the Dalymount outfit (sitting on 23 points) so both teams are still anxiously striving to move further away from the relegation zone.
Gareth Harkin (knee) remains out while Horgan has rated Josh Mailey, Sean Houston and Rory Keating as doubtful for the trip to the Capital.
However, it appears that Tony McNamee, who was a sub against Wexford Youths, could be fit enough to start in the event that the manager decides to make personnel changes.
When the two sides met in Ballybofey at the beginning of May it took an injury time penalty save by Ciaran Gallagher to get a very relieved Harps out of jail with a scoreless draw. Gallagher pushed away Anto Murphy’s 95th minute penalty in the only real excitement of a poor match.
Horgan is expecting an extremely tough battle with Bohs.
“Obviously Bohemians away is a very difficult fixture for any team in the league and even more so for us. They have some very talented and experienced players and physically are very strong thrown on top of that. They should have beaten us in Ballybofey where they missed a penalty in last minute of inury-time.”
Ethan Boyle replaced McNulty early in the Wexford Youths game but Josh Mailey could also be an option for right-back if he were to recover from a hamstring strain.
With Keating a doubt Dave Scully and Kevin McHugh are options up front. Scully did not feature against the Youths while a late corner from sub McHugh almost got Harps are share of the spoils.
Both sides have 20 games played with Harps (23) just a point ahead of Bohs (22). Bray are next below these two sides on 17 points with Wexford Youths on 15 and bottom of the table Longford on 10.
Harps would have been happy enough with the result at Ferrycarrig Park on Monday evening where Wexford lost 1-0 to St. Patrick’s Athletic. Bohs will be missing Keith Buckley and Dan Byrne due to suspensions for the Harps game.
TEAM NEWS
Suspended: None
Injured: Gareth Harkin, Damien McNulty
Doubtful: Josh Mailey, Sean Houston and Rory Keating
RECORD AGAINST BOHEMIANS (All Competitions)
Friday’s game will be the 72nd meeting of the two clubs, and the 34th to be played at Dalymount.
Total Games: 71 (38 at Dalymount Park)
Harps Wins: 19 (8 at Dalymount Park)
Bohemians Wins: 39 (26 at Dalymount Park)
Draws: 13 (4 at Dalymount Park)
Harps Goals: 73 (34 at Dalymount Park)
Bohemians Goals: 125 (84 at Dalymount Park)
LAST 10 GAMES v BOHEMIANS
20-Oct-00 Bohemians 1-0 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
21-Feb-01 Finn Harps 1-1 Bohemians (Premier Division)
27-Apr-01 Bohemians 5-1 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
22-Apr-05 Bohemians 1-0 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
16-Jul-05 Finn Harps 1-3 Bohemians (Premier Division)
14-Oct-05 Bohemians 3-1 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
28-Mar-08 Bohemians 3-0 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
24-Jun-08 Finn Harps 0-2 Bohemians (Premier Division)
19-Sep-08 Bohemians 3-0 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
06-May-16 Finn Harps 0-0 Bohemians (Premier Division)
OUR LAST MEETING WITH BOHEMIANS
06th May 2016. FINN PARK. League of Ireland Premier Division.
Finn Harps 0
Bohemian FC 0
Finn Harps: Ciaran Gallagher; Damien McNulty, Keith Cowan, Packie Mailey, Ciaran Coll; Adam Hanlon (Kevin McHugh 71), Barry Molloy, Sean Houston, Gareth Harkin (Michael Funston 37), Tony McNamee (Dave Scully 84); Ryan Curran.
Bohemians: Dean Delany; Derek Pender, Roberto Lopes, Derek Prendergast, Lorcan Fitzgerald; Paddy Kavanagh, Daniel Byrne, Keith Buckley (Anto Murphy 76), Dave Mulcahy, Ayman-Ben Mohamed (Jake Kelly half-time); Mark Quigley (Kurtis Byrne 76).
Referee: Dave McKeon (Dublin).
