Fanad United set to host Harding FC in FAI Junior Cup clash

Last April when Fanad United won back-to-back Premier Division league titles, team manager Arthur Lynch pointed to the players as the main reason for the club's success. 

But this weekend, they will briefly turn away from the chaos of league football in Donegal when they instead welcome Harding FC from Dublin to Traigh-a-Loch in the last-32 round of the FAI Junior Cup. 

A 2-1 win over St John’s last December has sprung the league champions into the fifth round of the competition and will play the Dublin side most noteworthy in the media this past week as the team that came up against Conor McGregor who was playing for Blackforge last weekend. 

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And while Fanad have not had the start to the season that they’ve had in recent years, with them sitting seventh in the league on 10 points and nine off the top of the table, Fanad player Carlos O’Reilly states there is a long way to go in the season and the league is still up for anyone to win. 

“We’ve lost to Letterkenny Rovers and Bonagee United already this season but we have to play them again at home at the end of the season,” he said. “Look, there’s no point dwelling on your defeats, but we know that the league title is still up for grabs for anyone. 

“There’s been very little change this season to other years for us. We’re definitely kept grounded and we’re never going to get too far ahead of ourselves.  

“Result this season might not always go as planned but if we just keep doing the small things right and keep trying to progress then we should be okay.” 

Focusing on this weekend, O’Reilly cites a clean bill of health as his team looks to go one step further in the competition won by Cockhill Celtic last year. 

“We’re not too far away, we have Paddy McGinley coming back from a knee injury and we hope he’ll be okay coming into this weekend,” O’Reilly said. “We also have James Gallagher who should be fit for this weekend too, so things are really on the way up in that department which is great. 

“We don’t know an awful lot about Harding but come Sunday I’m sure that Arthur Lynch will have us well drilled on them, so, I’m sure we’ll be alright. 

“The last couple of years we’ve probably got knocked out of the FAI Junior Cup a bit early, but this year, it’s nice to win a couple of games and go on a good run and get out of the county. We just hope this weekend that we can go another step further and get into the last 16 of the competition.”