Harps upset Athlone to send battle for final play-off spot down to the last day

Lowly Finn Harps upset Athlone Town 4-1 in Ballybofey on Saturday afternoon with the visitors’ promotion hopes now set to go down to the wire, on the last day of the season. 

Finn Harps 4 Athlone Town 1 

And while Dario Castelo’s side’s fate remains in their own hands, there is no doubt that the visitors would have anticipated getting the job done on Saturday against a team that’s likely to end up second from bottom in the final standings. 

But the game was barely two minutes old when Harps took a shock lead. Tony McNamee’s in-swinging cross from the right deceived everyone, including Enda Minogue in the visiting goal, as the ball somehow ended up in the back of the net. 

Still, Athlone soon settled and more or less instantly began to turn the screw. Frantz Pierrot rolled home but was called back for offside while it took an amazing save from Antonio Tuta to deny the same player 13 minutes in. 

However, two minutes later, a low freekick delivered with some whip by Jamar Campion-Hinds, seemed to come off Jamie Watson at the back post and end up in the Harps net. 

On 26 minutes a direct throw-in from McNamee into the Athlone area broke kindly to Matthew Makinson but his instinctive swipe was blocked down by the alert Daniel McKenna.

And seven minutes out from the break Oisin Duffy had an effort cleared off the line by Noe Baba as the teams eventually departed locked at one apiece at the midpoint.

Seven minutes after the restart and the hosts again took the lead. With Athlone expecting McNamee to deliver into the area from the corner, he instead rolled to the edge of the box for Flood to smash home.

And things got even better for Harps on the hour mark when substitute Sean O'Donnell was bundled over inside the area by Duffy and a penalty awarded. Flood made no mistake from the spot as he fired straight down the middle to double his side's lead.

Pierrot then clipped the crossbar on 70 minutes while Aaron McLaughlin also smacked a post up the other end. 

Before the end a second Harps penalty, where O’Donnell was again the player upended, this time by McKenna, meant that Flood added a fourth Harps goal.  

It’s a result that now puts Athlone under some pressure as they hope to snag the fifth and last remaining play-off berth on the final weekend’s action. 

Finn Harps: Antonio Tuta; Noe Baba, Matthew Makinson, Kevin Jordan; Jamie Watson, Ryan Rainey (Max Hutchison, 75), Tony McNamee (Darragh Coyle, 90+4), Stephen Doherty, Ryan Flood; BJ Banda (Sean O'Donnell, h/t), Aaron McLaughlin (Damien Duffy, 90+4).

Athlone: Enda Minogue; German Fuentes, Daniel McKenna,  Patrick Hickey, Noah Van Geenan; Matthew Baker (Daniel Orrego, 84), Aaron Connolly, Oisin Duffy (Jack Kavanagh, 71), Valerii Dolia (Dylan Gavin, 55); Frantz Pierrot, Jamar Campion-Hinds. 

Referee: Mark Moynihan.