With two trips to Shannonside for a pair of games against Limerick FC in a six-day spell, Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan knows which he’d rather win.
That’s not to say the Harps boss doesn’t want to win tomorrow’s FAI Cup clash at the Markets Field, but next Friday’s Premier Division meeting is of more obvious consequence in determining the success, or otherwise of the 2017 season.
Harps slipped into the relegation zone last Friday night with a 4-0 loss to St Patrick’s Athletic and fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to champions-in-waiting Cork City on Monday.
“I’ll be blunt: we’re a bit up in the air with what we’re going to go with,” Horgan said ahead of tomorrow’s visit.
Packie Mailey is certain to miss out having picked up an injury in the warm-up on Monday night, Eddie Dsane is suspended while midfielder Barry Molloy remains unavailable.
Harps, who will welcome Caolan McAleer back into the squad, have a number of players on the doubtful list, including Sean Houston and Paddy McCourt.
“If it was a League game, we’d definitely play them,” observed Horgan.
“We will have to make some changes. We’ll see what we’re able to do.
“We have a couple more who are at lower risk in terms of the knocks they have. If we leave them all out, we could be in trouble.”
Mailey was named to start against Cork on Monday, but injured a hamstring during the warm-up and the Convoy man – who underwent a scan yesterday to determine the exact extent of the damage – faces a few weeks on the sidelines.
Horgan said: “The initial prognosis wasn’t good on Packie now so we’ll wait and see what the scan results show us.”
Limerick have managed to slip into the relegation battle of late and Horgan knows that next week’s game presents a big opportunity for his team to get precious League points on the board.
He said: “Really, this is a matter of what we can lean in the next week.
“We got to a Cup semi-final three years ago and it was a great experience for the players, for the staff and for me but but, realistically, were we going to win the Cup? No, we weren’t. You’d have to ask the same question this year now.
“Next week’s game in the League is massive but, don’t get me wrong, whatever team we have out on the field this week, will be out to try and win.
“I would take a draw next week, if you gave me a choice of picking one or the other to be honest.
“Even if we had everyone here this weekend, it would still be a battle. I saw a video of their game against Bohemians – they hammered Bohs 1-0. They could have won 5-0.”
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