So you see that big rectangular thing at the end of the pitch….
Taking into consideration average stoppage-time totals, it has been approximately 484 minutes since a Finn Harps player last found the net in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
Five successive defeats since Sean Houston scored against Galway United on July 8th to earn Ollie Horgan’s men what then appeared to be a crucial win in the battle to avoid the dreaded drop.
That game against the Westerners was to be followed by outings against Bray Wanderers and Wexford Youths – basically the scenario was Harps only had to record victory in one of those matches or, at the very last avoid defeat, and they could be thinking positively of another season in the top league.
Two lone goal reversals in those fixtures, however, brought the doubt factor into the equation and subsequent losses against Bohemians, Derry City (not so much a loss as a trouncing) and Shamrock Rovers in Ballybofey at the weekend have exchanged doubt with despair and left the team thankful for the smallest of mercies – that the Youths of Wexford have, thus far, been unable to close the five point gap between them and Harps.
But Shane Keegan will know, too well, that the Harps that occupy third from bottom place just above his side is not the same Harps that were embarking on winning runs earlier in the campaign. In short, he will believe, they are a confidence drained team that can be caught and dragged into the relegation/promotion play-off spot.
Up until Rovers opening goal, Harps were well in contention and indeed in the first forty-five looked comfortable on the ball and would have been value for a lead goal if only they could remember how to get one.
Lost cause chaser Mickey Funston was the key man in that opening half – and had they had eleven of him on the pitch they would surely have come away with something.
There were impressive performances, too, from Houston, Tony McNamee and Garth Harkin while the defence – undoubtedly the best performance I have seen from Ethan Boyle in the right full-back department – looked capable of keeping the Hoops at bay.
But operating as the lone striker, Ruairi Keating only managed one shot over the ninety and rarely looked like breaking his duck since
returning to the club.
The twin pairing of Ryan Curran and Dave Scully may not have been setting scoring records when they were being deployed but they were still effective and Harps were achieving results with them in the front line ranks.
Hopefully Scully will have recovered sufficiently from his injury to take his place in the derby game with Sligo Rovers on Saturday night when Keating should be taking his place on the
bench.
I got chatting to a few Finn Park regulars before the kick-off against the Shams and at least three of them brought up the subject of assistant coach Paul Hegarty and his influence on the team.
Is it coincidence that since his arrival to take over from Gavin Dykes in the role, Harps have gone on a goal shy slump and five games without registering a single point?
As a player, Higgsy was top of the class – a midfielder who never gave in and often popped up with critical goals and assists. A player who would surely make it into the all-time best Harps squad.
His managerial career has flitted between Harps and Derry City mainly in the assistant capacity but he won over Finn Park followers in 2007 when he guided the team to promotion after a play-off with Waterford United – and, it has to be said, following a dodgy opening to the campaign that year.
Are Horgan and Hegarty the perfect fit? Not if you’re going on recent results and performances though there was, as I say, a definite improvement for much of the game against Shamrock Rovers.
Time may – and hopefully will – suggest differently but at present, the combination is not working and for some of the Harps faithful there might be, even at this early stage, a yearning for the return of Gavin Dykes, now deployed as head honcho with Irish League side, Ballinamallard United, who after five games in the Dankse Bank Premiership boast just a solitary point.
Though you’d have to still believe that a man of Hegarty’s experience can provide the blue touch paper for a Harps revival.
KERRY FREE-ZED OUT?
They can start, if they haven’t already, draping the blue around Sam.
The 2016 All-Ireland ‘Final’ has been and gone and the Dubs are home
and hosed. Little matter of Mayo to take care of before it all becomes
official but I just can’t, curse or no curse, see the Connacht team
running Dublin as close as Kerry did last Sunday.
When you have the players of the quality of Aidan O’Shea, Lee Keegan
or Cillian O’Connor, you’re always in with a shout, of course, but
nothing Mayo has produced on the field of play this year convinces me
that they have the wherewithal to avenge their 2013 Final defeat – by
a solitary point on that occasion it should be stressed – at the hands
of the Jacks.
And Kerry? A handful of years back they would have been well able for
this Dublin side and I doubt would have surrendered a five point
half-time advantage. But the Kingdom of the current era is not quite
made of the stuff of previous line-ups and yet, in this scribe’s
opinion, were hugely unfortunate not to at least have earned a replay.
Much of the Dublin media focused afterwards on the resolve of Jim
Gavin’s men and there were suggestions in a couple of the outlets that
they were much the better side. A lot of talk of coming back from that
interval deficit and again, clawing their way back into proceedings
when they found themselves a trio of points adrift in the second
period. And nobody could dispute that – Gavin has brought a
never-say-die attitude to this Dublin squad that was lacking not so
long ago.
But Kerry could point to two relevancies that saw them ousted at the end.
How match official, David Gough, or his touchline assistants, missed
the blatant barge by Kevin McManamon on Peter Crowley which should
have been resulted in a straightforward free that would surely have
brought Kerry level in the final minute may be the subject of a
Specsavers conference some time soon. I often feel that a referee from
another Province outside the two competing teams in an All-Ireland
semi-final – or any stage of the competition for that matter – should
be given the whistle.
That was reinforced when the post match statistics revealed a
startling imbalance in the frees awarded to the respective sides –
twenty-one to Dublin and a third of that to Kerry. Can this be true?
Were Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s team guilty of that many infringements in
comparison to their opponents.? Not in this opinion, they weren’t.
To be absolutely fair, the Meath official is a top drawer referee but
he may in this case have succumbed to the blue collars around him.
THE GREAT MACRORY CUP CONUNDRUM
So how come the MacRory Cup has never made it through the gates of St.
Eunan’s College?
The MacLarnon Cup, yes, the Herald Cup, the Loch an Iuir Cup, the
Treanor Cup not to mention the All-Ireland Colleges Cup, but of the
big one in Ulster, not a shadow of it despite three appearances in the
final of the prestigious competition.
It was a question posed by Kevin Haughey of the Class of ’66 who
assembled for their 50th anniversary get-together a couple of weeks
ago.
“It’s amazing that the MacRory Cup hasn’t made it here,” Kevin
repeated more than once in the company of his former classmates.
In the College’s centenary book (1906-2006), Charlie Kavanagh recalled
the last appearance by a St. Eunan’s team in the MacRory Cup Final, up
against St. Patrick’s College Cavan at St. Molaise’s Park in
Irvinestown on Sunday March 12th, 1961.
“In the match St. Eunan’s never played with the spirit, conviction and
tenacity required for such a big occasion, before a very big crowd,
and were overwhelmed by 1-13 to 0-5,” Convoy native Charlie wrote.
“The team under performed on the big stage and did not do themselves
or their college justice. Maybe it was the tension or the hype, but
the best displays were left behind in the preliminary rounds and on
the training field.”
The College team had previously appeared in the 1956 and 1959 Ulster
inter-school Finals but again returned to Letterkenny without the
coveted trophy. And all these years on, the question is still being
asked – not least by Kevin Haughey – as to why three squads made up of
a talented pool of players, a number of whom went on to represent
their county, failed at the final hurdle.
I should point out at this stage that I wasn’t a member of the Class
of ’66 (I’m a decade back from those boys let me say) – and certainly
not of any St. Eunan’s College team – but went along to the reunion
purely in a journalistic capacity. And an entertaining occasion it was
too.
Former Donegal goalkeeper, Danny McGeehan, was among the contingent
engaging with the afore-mentioned Kevin on the Great MacRory Cup
Conundrum.
Danny was recalling back in the days when Seamus Hoare, one of the
greatest and perhaps the greatest, goalkeepers ever to pull on a
Donegal jersey, was taking the college team for training.
“He was an unbelievable goalkeeper and had a great influence on us.”
No more so than on Danny himself who went on to take over from the
Letterkenny man between the posts for the Donegal senior team from
1969 to 1974. “I still think of that – replacing a man of his stature
in the team. I couldn’t have followed in bigger footsteps.”
Not the only man present from the Class of ’66 who featured in the
colours of his county team – as I bantered with Kevin and Danny, there
standing a few feet away was Anthony Gallagher, the centre-back pivot
who won Ulster titles with Donegal in 1972 and 1974 and was one of the
stars of the St. Eunan’s club side.
The MacRory Cup may never have come through the gates of St. Eunan’s
College but some extraordinary players who would go on to make names
for themselves on the club and inter-county pitches of Ulster and
beyond certainly did.
FITTING INTO ROBBIE’S SHIRT
Prized among this avid’s sporting collection is one of Robbie Keane’s
jerseys. It’s got a bit tattered around the edges – perhaps even like
the man himself – but I won’t be parting with it even if the collar’s
hanging loose and there are gaping tears in the underarm departments.
I’ve had it for sixteen years and it’s not going anywhere now.
Particularly now that the great man is hanging up his international
shirt and won’t, after tonight’s friendly with Oman, be seen in an
Irish one again.
Okay, confession time. This shirt was never actually worn by the
Tallaght targetman and indeed isn’t even of international vintage.
Instead, I acquired it while hunting through a street market in Venice
– now there was a wet weekend – all those years ago. An Inter Milan
jersey complete with Keane’s name and number (7) on the back. Too good
to miss, says I, and promptly bartered with the stall holder so I
could come home and boast of being one of the few among fellow
football fans of owning a replica jersey from his time in Serie A
where he played fourteen times with the club then managed by Marcello
Lippi who described the Dubliner as one of the best young players he
had even seen.
The Irishman’s spell in Italy would have been longer had Lippi not got
the boot but I’ve still got the shirt to prove his existence there –
an albeit tattered reminder of just one of the ten clubs Keane has
lined up for in his career.
But as good as that club career was – I often wonder why he didn’t
have a more permanent spell at any one of them given his quality –
it’s his international period that many of us will remember him by.
My favourite Keane moment in an Irish shirt? It had to be that
injury-time equalizer against the Germans in the 2002 World Cup which
I watched in the Delacroix Bar on Derry’s Buncrana Road and ended up
hugging everyone around me including – another confession – a
scattering of Derry City supporters.
Just one of his tally of 67 international goals – truly remarkable and
more so when you think that just across the water, they were lauding
Wayne Rooney’s achievement of surpassing Bobby Charlton’s total of 49
last year. The Manchester United striker now sits on 53 goals but I
doubt he has enough time left in his international career to catch up
with the boy Keano.
Let’s hope he adds another to his tally tonight in the friendly
against Oman to give him the goal-den send-off he deserves.
RACQUET WOMAN
A nice touch by Finn Harps on Friday night when they announced Chloe
Magee as the guest of honour.
Now a triple Olympian, following her showing in the badminton arena in
Rio, she has been a star of the sport in this country and beyond and
merits every accolade that has come her way including the generous
round of applause at Finn Park prior to kick-off. And a richly
pleasant personality to add to her talents on the court.
She along with Sinead Jennings, Mark English, and Brendan Boyce, and
not forgetting the Finn Valley A.C. pairing of Patsy McGonagle and
pole vaulter, Tori Pena, did us proud, not something that can, alas,
be said for every Irish representative in Brazil.
