Finn Harps' Conor Tourish: ‘We showed great togetherness’

Defender Conor Tourish has hailed the character of a young Finn Harps side. 

At 30, Tourish might be one of the elder statesmen of the Harps dressing room now, but he’s relishing the rest of the season with the in-form side.

A late goal by Aaron McLaughlin snatched a point from First Division favourites Dundalk on Monday.

“It was a good result,” Tourish said. “Dundalk were running away with the league a bit and if you gave us a point at the start of the game we’d have taken it. The way the game was panning out and for them to score so late, we showed great togetherness to get a goal back.”

Harps looked sharp in patches and had opportunities to take control of the game. Tourish pointed to some missed chances as pivotal moments that could have changed the course of an evening when they found Lilywhites goalkeeper Peter Cherrie in excellent form.

The Letterkenny man said: “We had a very good chance at the start of the first half and we had two or three at the start of the second half to get ahead. 

“When you let chances like that go, you hope that you don’t rue them in the end up.

“They had a lot of pressure on us from corners and set pieces, but we dealt with them well. The big man (Vinnie Leonard) got up well for the header to score for them. We dealt with it reasonably well, but it was a real sucker punch.”

Leonard’s goal, on Dundalk’s 15th corner of the game, came as a hammer blow, but Harps didn’t wilt and McLaughlin stole in to seal a memorable point.

Tourish said: “For such a young squad, we showed great character to get back again.

“Most of that squad is early 20s or teenagers and it’s great to see. We are just doing what we’ve always done and helping the boys along. The younger lads have done very well and they’ve really stepped up to the mark.”

The average age of the Harps starting 11 on Monday was 22.5 and they are now unbeaten in six.

The recent departure of Darren Murphy as manager brought about a brief period of uncertainty, but Kevin McHugh’s swift appointment, having been assistant manager to Murphy, has restored stability with their next mission an away trip to Cobh Ramblers on Friday night. 

Tourish said:  “A lot of people might have feared the worst when ‘Murph’ left but Kevin brought us all together. 

“We didn’t start very well this year and things just weren’t going our way some days—some games we lost that we didn’t deserve to, I think—but it’s been a matter of turning things around.

“It really helped that Kevin has been here and he knows how we’ve been going. There hasn’t been much he’s had to change at all so that has helped. With the young squad, you don’t want too many changes because boys are just coming in and getting used to the surroundings.”

Tourish played for Harps in 2022 - when he was the player of the season - before returning to Letterkenny Rovers for a year.

He has also had spells at Derry City and Institute, but has become an important feature in the Harps rearguard again.

“He’s our Paul McGrath,” was how McHugh described him after he missed last week’s 4-2 win over Kerry due to a suspension.

“He’s such an influential figure around the changing room and when he’s on the pitch he reads the game so well.  He attacks the ball so well and he organises around him. 

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“Conor has presence and sheer dominance at the back.”