Tommy Canning: Gavin McAteer looked like he 'belonged', but Harps rue home loss

Finn Harps coach Tommy Canning believes that, in spite of a defeat, supporters will have left Ballybofey with hope in their steps on Friday night.

Sean Keogh’s free kick in the second minute gave Dundalk a 1-0 win, but Harps felt they ought to have drawn level during a good second half.

In front of 1,420 at Finn Park and spurred by the half-time introduction of Gavin McAteer, Harps had plenty of chances to draw level, but Dundalk left unscathed.

“We wanted to be a wee bit more adventurous and a bit more on the front foot,” Canning said. “When we’re at home, regardless of who comes to Finn Park, we want to have a go. We had good support, which is really important. We will need people to get behind this team. They will need support and will need a connection. 

“It just didn’t seem to want to go in for us tonight. We had bits and pieces bouncing about and had one cleared off the line as well.”

McAteer called Enda Minogue, the Dundalk goalkeeper, into action with a testing effort early in the second half and Patrick Ferry struck the crossbar.

McAteer was in Spain last week with the Republic of Ireland U17s and featured in games against Finland and Hungary and missed Harps’ 1-0 loss at Kerry on the opening night of the season.

“Gavin looked like he belonged in the division tonight,” Canning said of the 16-year-old midfielder. “He had a good impact last year, but maybe didn’t look at times like he belonged. 

“Tonight, on a very difficult surface and against a really good team, he came on and was the one who slowed the game down in his head, put his foot on the ball and was able to pick the right pass. With his first or second touch, he really tested the ‘keeper.”

Defender Conor Tourish had an attempt cleared off the goal-line during a spell when Harps were on top. 

Dundalk, having dropped from the Premier Division last season, are favourites for promotion, but Harps matched the Lilywhites for long spells.

Canning said: “I think our season began tonight in some ways. As a group, we let ourselves down in Kerry. 

“There are positives to take from the performances, the shape of the team after the first 15 minutes. We settled into the game, we got a grasp of our shape and got the wing-backs higher and I felt in the second half they really played on the counter-attack. 

“We have a lot more positives to take from it than we left Tralee with. We felt that we didn’t ask enough questions last week of Kerry so we wanted to get more bodies higher up the pitch. That helped us once we got a foothold in the game, but unfortunately we were already a goal down at that stage.

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“I think we deserved something from the game. I thought that we asked lots and lots of questions of Dundalk, who people, even this early in the season, are tipping to be the champions. 

“You can see some green shoots of positivity and some moves in the right direction from that performance.

“I think people went away hopeful tonight and they can see the beginnings of something.”