'I can't fault the boys, they were savage throughout' - Fanad United's Arthur Lynch

Fanad United manager Arthur Lynch was full of praise for his side following their dominant 3-0 FAI Junior Cup win over Harding FC on Sunday in Traigh-a-Loch. 

Despite only having a goal advantage for over 75 minutes, there was never any doubt, despite a serious mishap, that the Donegal Premier Division champions were worth their victory against the Dublin side with a first-half goal from Peter Carr giving his side the edge in what was a one-sided affair. 

Two late goals from Eoin Logue and substitute Martin McElhinney ended the contest as Fanad now march to the last-16 of the Junior Cup competition being the only Donegal side left in the national tournament following Letterkenny Rovers and Cockhill Celtic’s respective defeats at the weekend. 

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And while Lynch was satisfied with his side’s performance, there was a touch of nerves at times when they only had a 1-0 lead, fearing that Harding might sneak an equaliser, but admits that his side could’ve been much further ahead. 

“When you’re in a game with that many chances, and you don’t take them, you always feel it’s going to come back to bite you,” Lynch told Donegal Live. 

“We could’ve been three, maybe even 4-0 up at halftime with the number of chances we had. We hit the post and the crossbar a couple of times in the second half too, and that was worrying, because all it would’ve taken from Harding was one break, one shot, one mistake, and they would’ve been back in the game. 

“I thought Harding were really dangerous on the counter, so, we just had to guard it well and we did that. Overall, thankfully we saw the game through, we got the penalty to make it 2-0 and I can’t fault the work rate from any of the boys, it was savage throughout and we’re delighted to get the win.” 

There was never any fear for Lynch that his side were going to produce the goods on the day. 

“At halftime, it was just about telling the players to keep doing what they’re doing,” he said. “It took time to get the second goal, but we got there eventually. 

“I thought the players today were top class. It’s hard to single anyone of them out. They’re a tight group . . . a really committed group. They’ve been on the go now for about seven years, they back one another and that’s great to see.” 

Looking towards their league campaign, Fanad are currently sitting on 10 points in seventh position, 12 points off the leaders Bonagee. 

And while Lynch admits that his side took a bit of a dip in terms of performances and results before Christmas, he feels that Sunday’s win against Harding can only help Fanad on their road to recovery as they look to move up the table and challenge for a title they’ve won the past two seasons in-a-row. 

“We know what it’s like to win the big competitions and it's hard work,” Lynch said. “Nobody hands you a title. Against Harding today, it was all about the cup which is nice because for a week you can turn your attention from the league off, but at the minute we know how hard it’s going to be to win the league this season but there’s a long way to go yet. 

“I suppose you look at teams like Bonagee, they’re going to be hard to catch, but if you look at the table, there are still about five teams with a chance of winning the league. 

“We know that we haven’t been great for a few weeks but we’ve started to come back into it and we’ve seemed to have found our feet again thankfully. If we can keep the squad fit, then we have a chance.”