'I’ve banned the lads from talking about the play-offs now' - Darren Murphy

It’s been a difficult few weeks for Darren Murphy and his Finn Harps side, but last Friday’s 2-0 home win against Cobh Ramblers was just what the doctor ordered as the Ballybofey club got back to winning ways. 

With six defeats on the bounce and only one goal scored in that period, Harps managed to get back to winning ways via goals from Patrick Ferry and Jamie Watson, ended a poor run of form, and returned some hope to their play-off chances. 

Murphy’s overall belief was that his side needed a performance and needed result, and he was delighted to see his team get both. 

“Sometimes that doesn’t happen, I think we’ve had performances over the past few weeks but we haven’t had the results, but I genuinely feel that we haven’t had the bounce of the ball and I genuinely felt that young lads were put under pressure because there was so much talk about the play-offs. I’ve banned the lads from talking about the play-offs now,” Murphy said. 

“We won’t talk about it anymore. We started our season taking it one game at a time, but we live in a world where social media determines what people say, and in that, all the talk has been about the play-offs being gone from us and the season being over.  

“I don’t read that stuff, but the players do, and I hear them talking about it, so I tell them to try and stay away from social media, we can’t control what people write and that’s the hardest part of being a footballer.” 

Through the past few weeks, Finn Harps dropped out of the play-off zone, winning only two games since May 31, and while Murphy and his side always maintained a positive demeanor, the manager admitted that it was a tough time for his players who felt a serious amount of unwarranted pressure put upon them.  

“Believe me, the players in there don’t like losing games,” he said. “A lot of them are from here, and they struggle with defeat, and they have to walk down their own streets and listen to people talk about Harps being beaten again. 

“And that’s nothing new, it’s not like we’re winning 20-plus games each season, but because they lifted expectations at the start of this year, it’s brought a type of pressure and that’s something they’ve never had before, they’ll deal with it, and hopefully that 2-0 win gives them some belief back.” 

Having lost to Athlone (their next opponents) earlier in the season away from home, Murphy now hopes that his side can take the positive winning mentality from last week’s victory and hopefully make it two wins on the bounce as they look to close the gap on the play-offs. 

“I hope we can now bring that performance to Athlone,” he said. “I’ve said many times that there’s only been one game this season where I’ve been disappointed.  

“I’ve been disappointed with results, of course, but people have to understand where we are as a football club. It’ll take time to get us to where we need to be but I hope the person after me in five years or so will have a good solid base.”