Finn Harps condemn alleged object-throwing incident against St Patrick's Athletic

Finn Harps have moved quickly to condemn an incident where an object was allegedly thrown at one of the match officials during Friday night’s 2-1 FAI Cup loss to St Patrick’s Athletic. 

Dave Rogers' men had taken a shock first-half lead against the Premier Division outfit when Sean O’Donnell netted on 23 minutes. However, the visitors would draw level just three minutes after the restart when Chris Forrester smashed home from the spot. 

Then, five minutes out from the end, controversy ensued when what appeared like an obvious Finn Harps throw-in was given the other way. 

And a quick restart from Anthony Breslin allowed substitute Thomas Lonergan to freely run through and bury the ball in the top corner of the net.

Rogers - who previously captained St Pat’s as a player - said after that the visiting management admitted that the controversial decision that led to the game’s winner should, in fact, have gone Harps’ way. 

It didn’t, and at the time Rogers picked up a booking for his frustrated remonstrations. 

When contacted on Saturday morning in regards to the allegation that a thrown object had come from the stand side of Finn Park, aimed at the linesman involved in that controversial late decision, a club spokesperson said: “Finn Harps are disappointed to have learned of an alleged object being thrown at an official during last night’s game against St. Patrick’s Athletic. 

“There is no place for that sort of behaviour at Finn Park. Our players did us proud on Friday night but, unfortunately, one individual seems to have let us down and tainted what was, otherwise, a great contest and effort by our team”.