Finn Harps need that parochial feel back along the terraces - Keith Cowan

Keith Cowan hopes that Finn Harps’ drop to the First Division is a backwards step that ultimately allows them to stride forth in much more purposeful fashion. 

Following his departure in 2019, the Ramelton native had fine spells with Dungannon Swifts, Glentoran where he lifted the Irish Cup and, more recently, Drogheda United.

Now 37, Cowan would have been forgiven for perhaps drifting off into the League of Ireland sunset. But having performed so well last term in the top flight with the Louth outfit, Cowan admits the chance to return to Ballybofey was too tempting an offer to refuse. 

So much of what he left behind four seasons ago will still be so familiar. But, he says, so much of it simply is not. The Finn Park dressingroom door has, more often than not in recent times, been a revolving one. 

But with new manager Dave Rogers on board and with the Liverpudlian promising to promote a large chunk of players from within, there is an air of curiosity and even excitement as to what the former Nottingham Forest U-21 coach will bring to the table.

Cowan preaches from the same pedestal in that sense. And while there could well be peaks and troughs along the way, the Coláiste Ailigh teacher feels the club desperately needs stability and sustainability now moving forward. 

“There is a fresh feeling to matters, no doubt,” he said. “Once I left, you’re talking four years ago now and I’ve had a few clubs since then; but it did feel like that chapter had closed. I really enjoyed Drogheda last season - it was great. 

“It kinda gave me a real boost. I wouldn’t say I felt like I’d unfinished business at Harps… I wanted to experience different coaching and different environments as I had been there for eight or nine years at that stage. 

“The opportunity to come back, especially when the club is very much in transition, it felt like the right fit. There is a complete rebuild going on in terms of the club that I left and the one I’ve come back into. It is a very exciting time to be at Harps. And I’m really glad to be back”. 

In regards to the approach the club and its new manager intend to take, Cowan says there will be times when patience will have to be a virtue along the terraces. But, if Harps truly are in this for the long haul, then the ambitious seeds currently being planted will eventually bear fruit. 

“When Harps were in the Premier Division every single point was there to be battled for if we had any chance to stay up, we needed to do that. It was such an unforgiving environment.

“But I do know long term, as a club and a community, supporters need something to hold onto in terms of bringing local lads through. If you look back to the time we went up in 2015, we were really ready to go up as a group. We had the likes of myself, Mickey Funston, Packie Mailey, Gareth Harkin, Ciaran Coll, Kevin McHugh… the list went on. 

“So that group had maybe dug it out together and were ready to go up. It was a local based side and it almost had that GAA club feel to it, ‘pride of the parish’ kinda stuff. Everyone was from the area and it meant a hell of a lot to that cluster to get the team promoted. We were really proud of our achievements. 

“I feel you do have to try to tap into that as much as you can. We don’t have endless amounts of money or some of the advantages other clubs perhaps have. We simply have to be producing a certain amount of players ourselves. 

“It was always easier for the likes of Shamrock Rovers, Derry City or a Dundalk to blood one or two of their own as the rest of their sides were so strong - they could absorb that. They can take a chance on putting a full back in or a striker in here or there. 

“To be fair to us, we often didn’t have that luxury. We needed to put our best foot forward every single time we went out, to be competitive and it’s more of a risk then”.

Being a club stalwart, legend even, it had to have been difficult for the skipper to see others come to Navenny Street and use Harps as a stepping stone to what they felt were bigger, better and often more lucrative things.  

Cowan says there were times when it did grate at him but that the demands of the Premier Division meant that instant fixes, who quickly moved on, soon became the norm. He hopes the landscape in the First Division, while seriously physical and just as demanding in its own way, will at least be a little more forgiving in the sense.

“We went a certain route in terms of players that were looking for a foot back on the rung of the ladder, an opportunity to rebuild a career or a springboard to bigger and better things.  

“So we did have players coming in that at the first sight of a better opportunity, a few extra quid or whatever, then those lads were soon gone. But I think this kinda approach now, it’s being done at the right time and with the right manager. 

“Dave Rogers has a really strong background of working with players and giving them a pathway. And Dave has serious knowledge already of the League of Ireland. Coming from Forest, there isn’t going to be any rude awakenings there. He’s won it all in this country. He’s won the league five times here.

“It’s fresh, it’s exciting and it all begins now on Friday night with the visit of Galway”.