FOOTBALL: Finn Harps will continue their battle for Premier Division survival tomorrow night in the rescheduled North West derby against Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds (kick-off 7.45).
And not surprisingly Ollie Horgan expects the short away trip to be a very difficult assignment for a team that is struggling so badly at the moment.
The hosts will go into the game as favourites and the Harps manager says that the tag is very much justified especially based on their recent home draw against title contenders Cork City.
“Sligo should have beaten Cork that night at the Showgrounds which just demonstrates the standard we will be up against tomorrow night. Their results record in general has been good over the past couple of months. So we’re really going to be up against it tomorrow night” Horgan said.
Harps will definitely be without vice-captain and left-back Ciaran Coll as well as striker Dave Scully due to suspensions while Horgan is keeping his fingers crossed that a couple of other players with knocks will have recovered sufficiently from the Galway game on Saturday night to be available for selection. Meanwhile, Josh Mailey will once again not be available due to UK college commitments but Barry Molloy should be back after missing the match at Eamonn Deacy Park.
Harps do have a very good record against Sligo this year drawing at the Showgrounds in March and recording a very important 3-0 win over their neighbours in Finn Park at the beginning of June.
On the back of nine defeats Horgan men’s are short on confidence but on the plus side at least the goal drought has ended after Ruairi Keating and Adam Hanlon scored on Saturday night. It was the team’s first goals in the Premier Division since Friday 8th of July when Sean Houston found the back of the net in the 1-0 win over Galway in Ballybofey.
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TEAM NEWS
Suspended: Dave Scully, Ciaran Coll
Unavailable: Josh Mailey
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RECORD AGAINST SLIGO ROVERS (All Competitions)
Saturday’s game will be the 114th meeting of the two clubs
Total Games: 112 (62 at Showgrounds)
Harps Wins: 46 (19 at Showgrounds)
Rovers Wins: 38 (18 at Showgrounds)
Draws: 29 (15 at Showgrounds)
Harps Goals: 182 (79 at Showgrounds)
Rovers Goals: 160 (81 at Showgrounds)
LAST 10 GAMES v SLIGO ROVERS
31-May-05 Sligo Rovers 1-0 Finn Harps (League Cup)
09-May-06 Sligo Rovers 1-1 Finn Harps (League Cup)
07-May-07 Finn Harps 3-2 Sligo Rovers (League Cup)
25-Apr-08 Finn Harps 0-1 Sligo Rovers (Premier Division)
19-Jul-08 Sligo Rovers 4-1 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
17-Oct-08 Finn Harps 0-2 Sligo Rovers (Premier Division)
04-May-09 Sligo Rovers 4-1 Finn Harps (League Cup)
27-Aug-10 Finn Harps 0-1 Sligo Rovers (FAI Cup)
20-Mar-16 Sligo Rovers 1-1 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
03-Jun-16 Finn Harps 3-0 Sligo Rovers (Premier Division)
OUR LAST MEETING WITH SLIGO ROVERS
3rd June 2016. Finn Park. SSE Airtricity Premier Division.
FINN HARPS 3 Sean Houston 15, 66; Ryan Curran 48
SLIGO ROVERS 0
Finn Harps – Richard Brush; Ethan Boyle, Keith Cowan, Packie Mailey, Ciaran Coll; Gareth Harkin (Josh Mailey, 82), Sean Houston, Thomas McMonagle, Adam Hanlon (Michael Funston, 88); Dave Scully (Kevin McHugh, 75), Ryan Curran.
Subs not used: Ciaran Gallagher, Raymond Foy, Tony McNamee, Liam Flatley. Booked: Dave Scully (57), Packie Mailey (63). Sligo Rovers – Micheal Schlingermann; Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Regan Donelon, Michael Leahy, John Russell (Jordan Richards, 65); Craig Roddan, Raffaele Cretaro (Philip Roberts, 87), Jimmy Keohane, Liam Martin; Kieran Sadlier (Jaanai Gordon, 87), Gary Boylan. Subs not used – Ciaran Nugent, Gary Armstrong, Mikey Place, Chris Lyons. Booked: Mick Leahy (40), Rafaele Cretaro (63), Liam Martin (72). Referee: Robert Harvey.
FINN HARPS GOALSCORERS 2016
Ryan Curran – 6
Sean Houston – 4
David Scully – 3
Kevin McHugh – 1
Damien McNulty – 1
Josh Mailey – 1
Tony McNamee – 1
Ruairi Keating – 1
Adam Hanlon – 1
Ethan Boyle – 1 (in League Cup)
FINN HARPS RESULTS 2016
Fri 04-Mar Finn Harps 2-1 Derry City
Fri 11-Mar Dundalk 3–0 Finn Harps
Mon 14-Mar Finn Harps 0-1 Shamrock Rovers
Sat 19-Mar Sligo Rovers 1-1 Finn Harps
Tue 22-Mar Finn Harps 1-0 Cockhill Celtic (League Cup)
Sat 26-Mar Finn Harps 1-0 Longford Town
Fri 08-Apr Galway United 1-0 Finn Harps
Mon 11-Apr Finn Harps 1-2 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Fri 15-Apr Finn Harps 1-0 Bray Wanderers
Mon 18-Apr Galway United 0-0 Finn Harps (League Cup) – Galway won 4-2 on pens.
Fri 22-Apr Cork City 3-1 Finn Harps
Fri 29-Apr Wexford Youths 1-1 Finn Harps
Fri 06-May Finn Harps 0-0 Bohemians
Tue 10-May Derry City 2–2 Finn Harps
Fri 13-May Finn Harps 0-7 Dundalk
Tue 20-May St. Patrick’s Athletic 4-0 Finn Harps
Sat 21 May Finn Harps 0-1 Crumlin United (FAI Cup)
Sun 29-May Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Finn Harps
Fri 03-Jun Finn Harps 3-0 Sligo Rovers
Sat 25-Jun Longford Town 0-2 Finn Harps
Fri 08-Jul Finn Harps 1-0 Galway United
Sat 16-Jul Bray Wanderers 1-0 Finn Harps
Fri 29-Jul Finn Harps 0-1 Wexford Youths
Fri 05-Aug Bohemians 2-0 Finn Harps
Fri 12-Aug Finn Harps 0-5 Derry City
Fri 26-Aug Finn Harps 0-2 Shamrock Rovers
Mon 12-Sep Dundalk 2-0 Finn Harps
Fri 16-Sep Finn Harps 0-1 Longford Town
Mon 19-Sep Finn Harps 0-1 Cork City
Sat 01-Oct Galway Utd 3-2 Finn Harps
FINN HARPS REMAINING FIXTURES 2016
Tue 04-Oct Sligo Rovers (a)
Fri 07-Oct Bray Wanderers (h)
Tue 11-Oct St. Patrick’s Athletic (h)
Fri 14-Oct Cork City (a)
Fri 21-Oct Wexford Youths (a)
Fri 28-Oct Bohemians (h)
Compiled by Finn Harps Media Team fhfcmedia@gmail.com
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