Kevin McHugh praises Finn Harps' grit after dramatic draw

From a lofty perch on the tv gantry, Kevin McHugh had a perfect view of Joel Bradley-Walsh stooping to head in a memorable equaliser on Friday night.

Just over 48 hours after being unveiled as the new Finn Harps manager, a whirlwind week completed for McHugh - serving a touchline suspension - when Bradley-Walsh earned a point against Longford Town.

For an age, it looked as if Aaron Doran’s free kick midway through the first half would be the sole separator.

Enter Bradley-Walsh, the Ballybofey born Harps fan, who headed in the 96th minute equaliser in the 1-1 draw. 

“A fantastic ending to the game and we’re actually a wee bit down in there, thinking that we could’ve won the game,” McHugh observed afterwards. 

“I thought we were the better team, created the better chances. The goalkeeper from Longford will never have a better night. I was standing behind the one from Aaron McLaughlin and it was as good as save as I’ve seen for a long time.”

Indeed, Harry Halwax, the Longford Town goalkeeper, had an inspired night between the sticks for the visitors with a string of saves.

McHugh said: “You could have forgiven the boys for thinking that it was the ‘keeper’s night and nothing was going to go in. They kept going and showed a wee bit of composure. 

“Joel was there and I’m delighted for him. He hasn’t kicked a ball in three or four weeks and we keep saying that to the subs, boys who find themselves out of the team, you have to keep going and take the chance when it comes.

“The boys are kind of happy to get a point, but at the same time they’re thinking they should have got three.”

Harps were reduced to 10 men when Kevin Jordan was sent off in the 66th minute, but a rousing finale might have tipped the scales on another night.

McHugh said: “Going down to 10 men tests everything. You’re one-v-one all over the back, it can be four-v-three, five-v-three, but the boys stood up to it. I thought that we were really, really good and the boys who came on impacted the game.

“We talked about it during the week, about the connection from the terraces to the pitch. It’s massive. You could see the extra energy and impetus and things started to fall when the crowd started to get behind us in that period.”

McHugh was formally installed as Darren Murphy’s successor on Wednesday afternoon at a press conference.

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“Preparation was exactly the same,” the Killea man said. “We’ve got our work done during the week, we’ve our work done in the team meeting and we have a game plan so standing on the touchline shouting and roaring doesn’t affect the players at times. 

“The boys have been fantastic.”