Fintown Harps: The little club with the big heart going from strength to strength

There’s not much that Fintown Harps manager Paddy Molloy hasn’t seen during his 22-year stint at the club, he’s been there through all the highs and the lows that football has to offer.  

It might be one of the smallest clubs in the county, situated in the middle of An Gaeltacht Láir, but Fintown has gone from strength to strength in recent years, coming through a period that nearly saw the club disbanded after the collapse of the underage structure a number of years ago.  

Apart from a Division Two League title in 2012 and the Downtown Saturday League Cup in 2013, success has been limited, but the effort from those involved can never be questioned.  

Molloy is one of those individuals who goes the extra mile to keep the club alive. It would be much easier for him to throw in the towel as manager of both the Saturday and underage teams and instead put his feet up and relax on the weekend.  

So, what drives him and many others in the club to keep going?  

READ NEXT: Mark Coyle is one step away from captaining Shelbourne to League of Ireland success

“I’m still enjoying now as much as ever,” he told Donegal Live. “Look, there can be a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that you don’t enjoy but there are way more positives than negatives.   

“Like most Saturday teams, you might be struggling to get a team together on the morning of the game, stuff like that can be annoying, and I could complain away about what frustrates me for hours, but if I didn’t have this club, I’d miss it. My heart is in the club and I wouldn’t want to see it fall away.  

“I was involved from the start when we formed in 2002, and then we entered the league in 2003, so it’s 21 years now, and it’s still going strong.”  

The club currently attracts players from Glenties, Ardara, Leitirmacaward, Glenswilly, Glenfin, and Fintown, with a small and hard-working committee ensuring participation in many competitions.  

They had once a thriving and successful underage structure until it fell away, but Molloy and many others took it upon themselves to start it up again two-to-three years ago to see could they get back to the ways of old, and the interest has been overwhelming, with a hope of keeping them in the club and bringing them into adult football someday.  

“We had a mighty underage down through the years, and we had great success with the underage too,” Molloy said.   

“It fell away to the wayside over the past few years when our coaches and managers from the underage system, who have been there from the start, got a bit tired and decided they needed a break.  

“Then we’ve always had that competition with the GAA clubs too and trying to hold on to players, which in this county, it can be a hard thing to do, so we went backward a little bit. But then two years ago I started up the underage system again, beginning at U-8s and U-10s, and just took it from there.  

“We didn’t enter into any league, I just wanted to see could we get back to the way we were in the past, and the interest in young people wanting to play for the club was unbelievable, so, we’re back trying to build the club up again, and so far, it’s going great.  

“We had no underage for about two years, mainly because the interest in playing and managing declined. So, I took it on board at U-8s, and now I have them up to U-12s. We have new coaches coming in now, so it’s getting back to the way it should be.”  

Fintown have gotten off to a great start in the Saturday Division 2 league with the side currently sitting third on seven points after four games, but this weekend they take on their biggest challenge when they welcome Premier Division champions Fanad United to Páirc Acla in the FAI Junior Cup.  

Molloy knows the challenge that faces them and just hopes his side goes out and leaves it all on the field, with the aim of pushing for promotion in the back of their minds all the time.  

“This season in the Saturday league, we’ve started brightly enough with wins against Glenea United and Castlefin, and we drew with Drumoghill,” Molloy said.   

“Now we were unfortunate to lose to Erne Wanderers after a 90th-minute goal last week in what was a very competitive game, but so far, we’re happy where we’re at.  

“It’s going to be a tough league where everyone is going to be taking points off each other, so hopefully come April we’ll still be there around the top of the league and challenging for promotion.  

“The boys have been on to me asking why I entered the FAI Junior Cup, and I was asking why I wouldn’t. We used to always enter it down through the years. We beat Swilly Rovers the first day out, which was great, but you can’t get a harder game than Fanad United this weekend, but we’ll give it our best shot.  

“We’ve been going from strength to strength over the past few years, and in terms of facilities and work from volunteers, we have one of the best in the county.”  

After 22 years, they are still the little club with a big heart.