FINN HARPS GOT back to winning ways on Friday night as they defeated north-west rivals Sligo Rovers 3-0 at Finn Park.
Sean Houston scored twice and Ryan Curran netted the other for Ollie Horgan’s team.
It was the first time this season that Harps have scored three times in a game and the win was their first since they defeated Bray Wanderers 1-0 on April 15.
Picture caption: Sean Houston is congratulated by Keith Cowan and Packie Mailey after scoring for Finn Harps against Sligo Rovers. Picture by Gary Foy, newsandsportfiles
- Derby delight again for Harps
OF THE 17 points Harps have managed to accumulate so far this season, eight of them have been picked up in derby fixtures.
Harps have taken four points apiece off Derry City and Sligo Rovers so far. In the four derbies, Harps are unbeaten.
On Friday night, Harps were full value for their dispatching of Sligo Rovers. The final 3-0 scoreline might have been generous for Harps, but they were certainly the deserving winners.
Once Seán Houston slotted them ahead in the 17th minute, it looked like it would be Harps’ night – and so it proved.
Ollie Horgan deployed five at the back and Sligo struggled to find holes to get through.
Afterwards, Horgan described Houston’s first goal as the ‘crucial’ moment, but the second, score by Ryan Curran, was perhaps the winning of the game.
It came at a time when Harps appeared to have retreated almost completely back into Richard Brush’s penalty box, content to soak up the pressure. Curran’s finish, for his sixth goal of the season, knocked the stuffing out of Sligo and Houston twisted the dagger when he turned in the third.
It’s not often Harps get derby cheer like this: 47 per cent of their points total has been collected against their neighbours.
- Safety within Harps’ grasp
IT may well be quite early in the season for bold predictions and it’s an utterance that would be enough to make Ollie Horgan shudder – but Harps are now looking well poised to avoid the relegation places in the Premier Division.
Even if this was their first win in ten games in all competitions, Harps now have nine points to spare on both Longford Town and Bray Wanderers while they’re five points better off on Wexford Youths.
Those three sides beneath them in the table all have a game in hand on Harps, but it is a situation that even the most pessimistic of Harps fan would struggle to be content with.
Harps have 17 points from 16 games, just better off than the point-per-game target many feel should be their goal.
Two of their next three games after the resumption are away fixtures and Longford and Bray. They come either side of a home game against Galway United.
It is a period that could define the campaign – but Harps are inching their way towards safety at the mid-point.
[adrotate group=”50″]- McMonagle gets a chance – and takes it
LAST Sunday, Thomas McMonagle was given his first League start of the season in Tallaght and the Burnfoot man kept his place for the visit of Sligo Rovers.
Until last weekend, the sum total of McMonagle’s action in 2016 were appearances against Cockhill Celtic and Galway United in the EA Sports Cup.
But the under-utilised, yet versatile, McMonagle kept his head down and bided his time.
Rustiness might have been expected of a player whose last League appearance was in a 1-1 draw at Athlone Town in October, but McMonagle’s inclusion was seamless.
Calm and composed, McMonagle barely put a foot wrong against Sligo. His distribution and ability to find a pass is one of his biggest assets. He was excellent against Sligo and will be hard to dislodge.
[adrotate group=”38″]- Horgan’s goalkeeping connundrum continues
CIARAN Gallagher made a string of top-class saves against Shamrock Rovers last Sunday, to earn Harps a 1-1 draw in Tallaght.
Gallagher’s display earned him a place in the Irish Sun’s Team of the Week, but the Raphoe native was back on the bench on Friday night.
It was certainly a selection that was the subject of some debate on the Finn Park terraces.
Brush made a couple of saves from Jimmy Keohane, one a fine save from a driving effort by the Sligo man, just after Seán Houston opened the scoring, and kept a clean sheet.
Asked of the decision to replace Gallagher with Brush, Ollie Horgan said: “The two of them are talented goalkeepers with little between them.
“Richard had a great night tonight, Ciaran had a great day on Sunday. The two previous weeks they had bad weeks. It’s an area of the field that we’re very strong in.”
[adrotate group=”37″]- Defeat takes wind from Sligo’s sails
OLLIE Horgan, in the build-up to Friday night’s game, referenced Sligo as a ‘proper team’.
Sligo were showing fine form of late having won six of their seven previous encounters before coming to Ballybofey.
Given that Harps hadn’t won in any of the nine fixtures in all competitions since they’d beaten Bray in mid-April, the odds were well in favour of Sligo.
But it was Harps who emerged as the deserved winners and for Dave Roberston it was a night when he left Ballybofey with more questions than answers.
“We’re very disappointed with the three goals we conceded and I’d liked for us to have been more creative,” the Sligo manager said.
“We need to get back to the basics really. We did that in our previous games.”
Loan players Jaanai Gordon and Jordan Richards will return to West Ham United and Notts County following loan spells on July 1 and Roberston confirmed that he is seeking two additions to his panel.
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