MATTHEW CROSSAN IS SET to join Finn Harps’ 100 club on Saturday night.
The Killea man (picture above courtesy of Gary Foy) can be expected to make his 100th Harps appearance at St Colman’s Park when Ollie Horgan’s men take on Cobh Ramblers.
Crossan is in his fourth spell at Harps, having been drafted first by Anthony Gorman in the 2006 season.
He’d been at Derry City, but Gorman’s prompting saw him enticed by first team football at Finn Park.
His debut arrived on April 3rd 2006 when he came on for Fintan Bonner in a League Cup game at Finn Park, a fixture Harps won on penalties.
After a fine first season at Harps, during which he hit four goals in 28 appearances, he was on the move to Limavady United the following August.
After two campaigns at Coleraine, he returned to Harps in 2010 but was released at season’s end.
A term at Kildrum Tigers, then in the Ulster Senior League, was followed by his signing for Declan Devine’s Derry City.
However, Crossan spent the summer of 2012 in America playing Gaelic football and on his return he lined out with his native Naomh Colmcille.
The previous winter, on the back of impressive displays with Naomh Colmcille, Jim McGuinness was alerted, but Crossan elected to sign on at the Brandywell.
He briefly played for Kildrum again before signing for Harps in 2013, only to be released in the summer transfer window.
He was lining out for Kildrum, and had given up his hopes in senior football, when Ollie Horgan came with a call out of the blue.
Horgan saw something in Crossan’s display for the Donegal League’s Oscar Traynor side and offered him the chance to make a senior return.
“Once I got the call from Harps, it’s senior football at the end of the day, I thought: ‘Why not?’” Crossan says.
“A lot of people don’t get that call I got from Ollie. I was enjoying it at Kildrum, but it’s not senior football.
“Ollie was so positive about the season and about the players he was bringing in.
“Once it was ok for me workwise, I couldn’t turn down a move back to Harps.”
Eight years ago, Crossan – who turns 29 on Wednesday – opened Matt’s Takeaway in Killea. He has now expanded to open outlets in Raphoe and St Johnston and his Killea base now includes a café.
He’s a first cousin of Harps captain Kevin McHugh while his older brother, Gary, was a member of the Harps panel that won the First Division in 2004.
This season, the versatile Crossan has made 20 appearances in the blue and white.
On Saturday, he’ll join current team-mates Ciaran Gallagher, Ciaran Coll, Keith Cowan, Michael Funston, Packie Mailey and McHugh in playing 100 games or more for the club.
In all, Crossan will be the 64th player to reach the milestone.
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