Finn Harps come from behind twice to earn draw with Cobh Ramblers

Finn Harps twice came from behind to earn a deserved point against second-placed Cobh Ramblers at Finn Park.

Hans Mpongo and Tony McNamee netted as Kevin McHugh’s team bagged a share of the spoils against the First Division challengers.

Barry Coffey scored twice, to take his goals tally to an impressive 17 so far this season, but Cobh have slipped six points behind leaders Dundalk after being held in Ballybofey.

Cobh had something of an Indian sign over Harps in recent meetings with the Donegal outfit winning only once in the previous seven meetings. 

That looked set to continue when Cobh took the lead in the 20th minute as Coffey stroked home from the penalty spot.

Referee Aaron O’Dowd was well positioned and immediately pointed to the spot when Gradi Lomboto barged over Bellis just inside the penalty area. Coffey made no mistake in tucking past Corey Sheridan, the Harps goalkeeper.

Sheridan had to be at his best in the 34th minute to turn Cian Bargary’s effort out for a corner. Sheridan, who had five clean sheets from his last six outings, reached out to his right to make a fine stop.

Harps drew level in the 38th minute as Mpongo seized on a loose ball before taking on Shane Griffin and firing off the crossbar to beat Timothy Martin. Mpongo had a debut goal against UCD last week and, after Idir Zerrouk helped challenge for the ball, the Dutch hitman repeated the trick here with a superb goal.

The joy, however, was short lived as Cobh restored the lead within a minute. Bargary’s inviting cross was met by Coffey and his header had enough on it to find the Town End net.

Harps thought they had equalised on the stroke of half-time. Conor Tourish applied the finish after Oran Brogan’s header invited the shot only for the offside flag of assistant referee Fintan Butler to go up. The margins were thin, but the effort was chalked off. 

In the early moments of the night, Tourish felt the full force of a driving shot by Bellis and needed treatment before being allowed continue. 

McHugh kept faith with the same XI from an excellent 3-0 win over UCD in the Cup seven days earlier. Goals by Lomboto, Mpongo and McNamee helped seal the passage into the next round with Bray Wanderers to visit Finn Park.

Sheridan saved a teaser by Bellis before Coffey opened the scoring in front of 703 spectators. 

Mick McDermott posted seven changes to the Cobh roster from the side that began the previous week’s 2-0 win over non-league Bangor Celtic in the FAI Cup. From their last league outing, a 2-1 loss at Treaty, there was just one alteration with Rhys Gourdie replaced by Bargary.

Twenty minutes into the second half, the in-rushing captain McNamee tucked home when Zerrouk’s cut-back found the Ramelton man.

The sides swapped chances soon after with Sheridan clawing off the line from Shane Griffin before Lomboto riffled wide from a good position for Harps.

Teenager Gavin McAter might have won it for Harps in the 87th minute, but Martin was equal to his attempt from the edge of the box while Mac Hutchison’s header was saved on the goal-line by Martin

In added time, Luka Le Bervet slammed over the crossbar with a late, late chance of sneaking victory for the visitors. 

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Finn Harps: Corey Sheridan; Josh Cullen, Conor Tourish, Joel Bradley-Walsh, Kieran Cooney; Max Hutchison, Oran Brogan (Gavin McAteer 82); Gradi Lomboto, Tony McNamee, Idir Zerrouk; Hans Mpongo. 

Cobh Ramblers: Timothy Martin; Jonas Hakkinen, Shane Griffin, Cian Coleman, Luka De Bervet. Niall O’Keefe; Cian Bargary, Barry Coffey, Shane Griffin (Rhys Gourdie 74), Samuel Bellis (Matthew Whelan 79); Cian Murphy. 

Referee: Aaron O’Dowd.