Brian McGroary joins Finn Harps Board as club eyes financial improvement

Former player Brian McGroary has joined the Finn Harps Board of Directors.

McGroary was co-opted onto the Board in recent weeks and is the club’s new treasurer.

The now 32-year-old McGroary, from Drimarone, played 14 times for Harps after being signed by Ollie Horgan. As a youth, he was on the books of Wolverhampton Wanderers before signing for Derry City in 2012. 

McGroary scored one goal - in a 3-2 League Cup loss at Galway United - for Harps before leaving the club in 2015.

At Sunday evening’s AGM of the Finn Harps Co-Operative Society Ltd in Ballybofey, Barry Patton, a former Board member, proposed the re-election of the Board en-block and all were returned to their roles: Chairperson Ian Harkin; Secretary Rory White; Commercial and Marketing officer Aidan Campbell; Treasurer Brian McGroary; Supporter Liaison Officer Aidan McNelis; Communications Ethan Lee; Womens Football Paddy McDaid; Retail Martin Gallagher; International Development Damien Gillespie.

White is set to move from the secretary’s post to take up a new football-related post in the club, with the Board set to meet later this week to discuss the vacancy. 

Elsewhere, Harps are hoping to have upgrade works carried out to the problematic floodlights at Finn Park before the start of the 2026 season.

At the start of 2025, the lights suffered damage during Storm Eowyn and a generous donation from Shamrock Rovers helped to get the issue repaired.

That came after some home games in the 2024 season had to be rescheduled due to floodlight failure.

Club Chairperson Ian Harkin told the AGM: “We hope to upgrade the lights finally and we hope that to be in place by the start of the season.”

The Chairman also confirmed that feedback was obtained that confirmed that a planned installation of an astroturf pitch at Finn Park was not possible. The site on Navenny Street lies on a flood zone and the riverbank is protected by a Special Area of Conservation, which Harkin said “made redevelopment impossible and reinforced the necessity of the new stadium”.

While Harps made significant losses in 2023 and 2024, totalling €245,905, Harkin said the projections for the 2025 season indicate that the club could break even for the 12 months.

“We seem to have steadied the ship,” he said. “If we hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t be here. The management team is extremely cost-conscious and everyone within the Board has put in huge effort to bring in fundraising to allow us to keep operating the club.”

Harps launched a new membership scheme, where patrons pay €25 annually, in 2024. Although the scheme fell well short of the targeted numbers - with 1,700 signing up from a hoped-for 5,000 - Harkin insisted that the current model is better than the previous system that had around 600 shareholders, but with a very small percentage actively engaged.

“We have 2,000 active members now whereas we had about 150 active members out of 600 shareholders before,” he said.

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Harkin told members that the new stadium is “key” to the future. 

“Beyond that, we need to see the benefits of the pathway,” he said. “The match night experience will also be key to being sustainable in the future. We don’t have a funder to keep us going, but we are ambitious.”