THERE’S A DONEGAL derby at Finn Park with Finn Harps welcoming Ulster Senior League champions Cockhill Celtic in the EA Sports League Cup.
Match report will be online from Chris McNulty in less than a minute and we’ll have reaction online later as well. That’s it for the updates tonight. Thanks for tuning in.
FULL-TIME – FINN HARPS 1-0 COCKHILL CELTIC
90+3 mins – Unlucky Cockhill! Three great chances.
Malachy McDermott’s header is saved at the second attempt by Richard Brush following a long throw-in by Kieran McLaughlin. It was bobbling towards the line.
Then, Garbhan Friel draws a save – much better save – from Brush
And Friel, on the turn, fizzes a great effort across Brush.
90+1 mins – Michael Coyle replaces Gerard McLaughlin in the second of four minutes of injury time. FH 1-0 CC
My Russian isn’t great but that means, i think: “Prediction of the match Finn Harps – Cockhill Celtic: Soccer / Ireland : Ireland”
Meanwhile in Russia …
Прогнозирование матча Финн Харпс – Cockhill Celtic: Футбол / Ирландия: Ирландия… https://t.co/5NMLZzjeeP #прогнозы
— Tipbet_ru (@Tipbet_ru) March 22, 2016
Five years ago, Paul McKinney scored a hat-trick for Cockhill in a famous 3-1 win against Galway at Terryland Park. Tonight, Richard Brush is forced to make an awkward save following Jimmy Bradley’s shot. FH 1-0 CC
83 mins – Paul McKinney is on for Cockhill and Derek Doherty with seven minutes to. Half chance for Ryan Curran and Harps as the ball drops but no danger to Gavin Cullen’s goal. FH 1-0 CC
70 mins played and Cockhill still pressing for an equaliser
— Finn Harps FC (@FinnHarpsFC) March 22, 2016
76 mins – Gareth Harkin is taken off and on comes Damien McNulty for Harps. David Coyle replaces Jason Breslin on the Cockhill Celtic side. FH 0-0 CC
73 mins – Deep free-kick from Gerry Gill is headed behind by Ethan Boyle for a corner. And from the delivery, by Gill again, Malachy McDermott has a free header from perhaps 15 yards out and it goes about a yard over the crossbar. Decent chance. FH 1-0 CC
70 mins – Not a lot in the form of chances but it’s well contested and Cockhill are still giving as much as they are getting. Nathan Boyle’s first half goal is still the difference. FH 1-0 CC
(So there’s an update to say – more or less – that there’s no update)
.@DonegalSportHub most used words tonight 1.foy 2. Cullen 3. Saved #montheharps
— Cathal Campbell (@cathalcampbell) March 22, 2016
59 mins – Tony McNamee is on for Kevin McHugh.
55 mins – Jason Breslin, the Cockhill Celtic left-back, tries a shot from distance that’s not badly struck but off target. FH 1-0 CC
48 mins – Ball broke to Derek Doherty on the right of the Harps box. His effort flashed just behind a couple of incoming players. Then, from a Gerry Gill free from deep, the visitors win a corner. It ends up with Malachy McDermott spinning on a shot but well wide. FH 1-0 CC
46 mins – Snapshot after only 10 seconds from Raymond Foy draws a save from Gavin Cullen. FH 1-0 CC
46 mins – We’re about to get underway here and Ryan Curran of Finn Harps is on for Michael Rafter at the break. And it’s freezing. FH 1-0 CC
HALF-TIME – FINN HARPS 1-0 COCKHILL CELTIC
45 mins – Liam Flatley turns but can’t keep his shot down and it’s the last action of the half. FH 1-0 CC
43 mins – Good save from Gavin Cullen from Raymond Foy. Kevin McHugh played Foy in down the channel but former Harps ‘keeper Cullen saved. FH 1-0 CC
36 mins – Harps come close from a Raymond Foy corner. From a posse of bodies, the ball clips the top of the Cockhill crossbar and goes over. The touch came off a defender, but it couldn’t been one of three of them! Cockhill clear the corner. FH 0-0 CC
28 mins – Gerry Gill – a former Harps player – whizzes a free-kick over Richard Brush’s crossbar at the River End from about 28 yards. Good effort but it was’t coming down. FH 1-0 CC
Boyle was the 500th player to represent Harps in senior football when he made his debut against Dundalk two weeks ago – beating Richard Brush to that particular accolade on alphabetical order! Or maybe it was Brush as he was listed higher on the team sheet! Anyhow, Boyle has scored and Brush hasn’t conceded so Harps lead. FH 1-0 CC
23 mins – GOAL FOR FINN HARPS
Ethan Boyle scores his first goal for the club. The full-back came in from the right and it opened up for the Waterford native. His first thought mightn’t have been to have a go but no challenge came in and his drive from the edge of the penalty area beat Gavin Cullen at the Town End. FH 1-0 CC
Finn Harps’ club historian Bartley Ramsay is keeping busy in Lucan tonight!
Trying follow @FinnHarpsFC game v Cockhill Celtic on twitter, mobstats and @DonegalSportHub! Not much happening F5 button getting hit a lot
— Bartley Ramsay (@bramsay11) March 22, 2016
19 mins – Not much in it here at all. Cockhill are acquitting themselves well. FH 0-0 CC
15 mins – Jimmy Bradley has a goal disallowed for Cockhill. He turned and finished well, shooting into Richard Brush’s bottom corner as Raymond Foy slid to block. However, match referee Michael Connolly blew early and indicated the Cockhill player, Derek Doherty, had shown his studs. FH 0-0 CC
14 mins – From my pigeon Turkish, I think that means “The match started ! Cockhill Celtic encounter with Finn Harps.” It sure has. FH 0-0 CC
Latest from Turkey …
Maç başladı! Finn Harps ile Cockhill Celtic karşılaşıyor
— Sahadan Skor (@sahadanskor) March 22, 2016
7 mins – Cockhill almost awarded a penalty. Garbhan Friel is brought down on the right of the area by Gareth Harkin, who is booked. Very close to the line but referee Michael Connolly seems to have got the call correct. The free-kick from Gerry Gill and the resultant corner is eventually cleared. FH 0-0 CC
6 mins – First big chance and it comes from Harps. Michael Funston cut back on the right flank to deliver a left-footed cross, which Kevin McHugh got contact on from a back post header. McHugh can’t get it on target though. FH 0-0 CC
This is the second competitive meeting of the two sides, with Harps winning 3-2 in 2014.
Crowd in the region of 600 here at Finn Park. We’ll confirm that later, just to see how far out our guesstimate is. FH 0-0 CC
Harps have just three starters from those who started against Sligo Rovers on Saturday – Richard Brush, Ethan Boyle and Gareth Harkin. FH 0-0 CC
1 mins – We’re underway at Finn Park with Cockhill Celtic attacking the Town End.
And we are guessing the sides will line out like this:
Finn Harps: Richard Brush; Ethan Boyle, Thomas McMonagle, Ryan McConnell, Matthew Crossan; Liam Flatley, Michael Funston, Raymond Foy; Gareth Harkin; Michael Rafter, Kevin McHugh.
Cockhill Celtic: Gavin Cullen; Kieran McLaughlin, Peter Doherty, Gerard McLaughlin, Jason Breslin; Derek Doherty, Malachy McDermott, Jimmy Bradley, Ronan Doherty; Gerry Gill, Garbhan Friel.
Referee: Michael Connolly (Donegal)
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