A GOALÂ from Letterkenny native Chris Flanagan was enough for Derry City to defeat Finn Harps in the Hughes Insurance Foyle Cup Under-19 final at Ardmore.
Derry City 1 Finn Harps 0
Flanagan (pictured above by Lorcan Doherty) was unmarked at the edge of the penalty area and swept home a beautiful curler when he struck across the ball to beat Harps netminder Jason Quinn from a free-kick that was pulled back by Gareth McFadden on 15 minutes.
In truth, it was a comfortable one-goal victory for the side from the banks of the Foyle as the exertions of the week, and in particular the 2-1 semi-final win over Motherwell some 24 hours beforehand, seemed to catch up on Joe Boyle’s Harps team (pictured by Geraldine Diver).
They played an occasionally risky game at the back and seldom got into the higher gears.
Harps rarely tested Derry goalkeeper Michael Lynch – from St Johnston – over the course of the 70 minutes with a much more crisp edge to the victors’ play. Jack Blake from Convoy kept the Derry defence steady and Mountcharles’s Joe McIntyre was also part of the Candystripes’ squad.
In the first 20 minutes alone, Derry created a number of chances with Ryan Doherty’s header back from a Ben Doherty cross having no takers and Ciaron Harkin’s header was saved by Quinn. Ryan Doherty then shot over following a pass from Stephen Mills.
Harps had only the occasional sniff with BJ Banda heading a Luke Nelis centre wide and right at the end of the half, Simon McGlynn’s volley into the ground was easily held by Lynch.
In the second half, openings were few and far between. Mills fizzled a shot over the crossbar but Derry never looked under any real pressure and held on to win.
Derry City: Michael Lynch; Conor McDermott, Jack Blake, Patrick McClean, Gareth McFadden; Rory Holden, Chris Flanagan, Ciaron Harkin, Ben Doherty; Stephen Mills, Ryan Doherty.
Finn Harps: Jason Quinn; Aaron McCready, Daire O’Baoill, Ciaran Kelly, Luke Nelis; Paddy Diver, Gareth Doherty, Oisin Hassett, Paul Ferry, Simon McGlynn; BJ Banda. Subs: Fergal Harkin and Sam Murphy for McGlynn and Banda (52 mins), Eoin Slevlin for Diver (56 mins)
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