Josh Cullen injury blow as Finn Harps see defensive options dwindle

Finn Harps look set to be down to the bare bones on defensive options after a damaging night at Finn Park.

Harps lost 2-0 to Athlone Town on Friday night and manager Kevin McHugh was left counting the cost on a number of fronts.

With key defender Conor Tourish already facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Harps’ rearguard options were hit further during Friday’s game.

Youngster Josh Cullen, who has stepped into the centre-back slot seamlessly in recent weeks, sustained an injury that forced his departure. The initial diagnosis from McHugh was that he, too, could be out until after the mid-season break.

“We’ll get Josh assessed, but it doesn’t look good for him,” McHugh said. 

“It seems to be something within the knee. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. The kid has been flying for us. It’s just bad timing. 

“He could be out until the window as well. It’s the wrong end of the pitch where we’re getting people injured. 

“We’re very light in there and we will address that in the transfer window. At the minute, we’re down to the bare bones.”

Mikey Place also seems set to miss the Longford game and a yellow card picked up by Max Hutchison has put him at the peril of a suspension.

“A very frustrating yellow card,” was how the Harps boss described the caution. “We are getting yellow cards for little or nothing.”

Attacker Dara McGuinness was also forced off with a quad injury in the first half and ‘keeper David Aziaya wasn’t in the squad due to a knee ailment.

Joel Bradley-Walsh and Kevin Jordan can feature in defensive positions while rookie Adam McDaid is also accustomed there.

McHugh said: “We’ll get everyone assessed before Longford. We can’t be feeling sorry for ourselves and we just have to move on.”

An early goal by Ben Feeney set Athlone on their way with Gideon Tetteh adding a second in the 73rd minute of a frustrating night at the office.

Read next: Frustration again at home for Finn Harps as Athlone Town grab first win in nine

“Goals change games and unfortunately they got the goals at the right moments for them,” McHugh said.

“It’s frustrating and the boys are deflated in there. They know that they’re putting their best foot forward, but they just need to take chances.

“The first goal was way too easy. Even before the ball came to him, there were way too many opportunities for us to press the ball. 

“It was frustrating that he was able to take a touch out to his feet in the final third and put a quality ball into the box like that. That’s frustrating because it’s stuff we work on in training.

“We looked back on things, Athlone had two chances in the game and scored the two of them. We’ve had three or four clear cut chances and we should have taken them. 

“This is a bit like last week: If we’re not taking our chances, the game will come back and bite. In certain moments we didn’t defend well enough and we allowed them onto us. We just have to convert some of those chances.”