FOR the third time in a fortnight, Finn Harps clash with Dundalk, the back-in-form Lilywhites at Finn Park tonight for a Premier Division clash (8pm).
The sides played out a three-all thriller two weeks ago in a pulsating FAI Cup quarter-final, with Dundalk winning the replay 3-1 after extra time.
Dundalk, who have been out of sorts for long spells this season, hit back with League wins over Sligo Rovers and Bohemians. Vinny Perth’s men come to Ballybofey two points adrift of seventh-placed Harps.
“It’s going to be difficult in Ballybofey,” Perth said.
“Harps haven’t played since last Friday and we’ve had a big 90 minutes in between that. They’ll certainly be fresher than us but our fitness levels have been exceptional and we just need to go again.
“We’ve looked Harps in the eye twice over the past few weeks so our video work has been completely reduced which is great because we haven’t had time to overly analyse our opposition at the moment.”
Harps are without the suspended Karl O’Sullivan for the game. Harps boss Ollie Horgan has listed Ethan Boyle, Ryan Rainey, Sean Boyd and Dan Hawkins as doubtful.
“It’s obviously a very difficult game from our point of view,” Horgan – whose side scored a superb 2-1 win at Bohs last Friday – said.
“We’ve played Dundalk twice in the last couple of weeks and weren’t able to win either game, home or away. Meanwhile they’ve won three games on the trot against very good sides and are probably in a better place than they were coming into the first game a fortnight ago.
“That said, we had a very good result last Friday down in Dalymount and all credit to the players for lifting themselves after the disappointment of the cup exit. Dundalk will still be coming into the game full of confidence and will want to start looking up the table given their recent results.”
