Tommy Canning insists Finn Harps are on 'an upward curve' after Cobh draw

Finn Harps first team coach Tommy Canning says the graph is going upwards at Finn Park.

Harps fought for a 2-2 draw against second-placed Cobh Ramblers on Friday night in a game that could and perhaps should have won by the conclusion.

Harps might be 10 points off the play-off positions, but Canning says they have to start looking up again.

“We’re not where we want to be,” Canning said after goals by Hans Mpongo and Tony McNamee earned a point.

“We think that we’re at least two or three places lower than where we should be. That’s the challenge for the players and the challenge for the season: We need to get ourselves closer to the play-off spots to give ourselves the best chance of getting into that.

“We are on an upward curve. We need people to get behind these boys and we need people to bring energy to the ground.

“They are starting to play and we have a wee bit of quality about us. We’re scoring goals and we’ve had five clean sheets in the last seven. We are doing things right at both ends, but we just need people in to continue to back us.”

A brace of goals by Barry Coffey saw Cobh lead twice, but Mpongo and McNamee drew Kevin McHugh's Harps on level terms each time.

Late in the night, sub Gavin McAteer and Max Hutchison both had chances to win it for Harps, but they were left to settle for a point.

Canning said: “If the game had finished at half-time and we had a point, we’d have been happy because we didn’t play anywhere near the levels that we’re capable of in the first half. We were much, much better in the second, particularly in the middle of the park. When the game opened up, we had the better chances.

“At 2-2, we were thinking about rolling the dice and going again. The front three sparked into life for the last 25 minutes and we left it sit. Gavin McAteer drew a good save from the ‘keeper and he made a superb save from Max Hutchison.

“We feel like maybe we left three points behind us. Cobh threw everything at us and asked a lot of questions of our backline. Corey had to dig us out at times.”

Harps are hoping that Darragh Coyle and Aaron McLaughlin will be fit to play some part in the next couple of weeks, while Max Johnston is “getting closer and closer”. However, Mikey Place, who has a knee injury, remains a “bit off” being available.

In July, 2024 Canning returned to the Harps dugout after stepping down as Ballinamallard manager in the NIFL Championship.

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Canning had a couple of previous spells at Finn Harps, including a brief time at the end of the 2023 season when he aided Darren Murphy for the latter part of the campaign, and a stint as first team coach with Ollie Horgan.

He said: “I feel as if we’re going in the right direction. The players we brought in have added to us. You can see that and it has pushed the whole group on a bit. That’s why it was important not to lose; you want the forward momentum to continue.”