Harps face a double away trip - something they ‘could’ve done without’

Ollie Horgan doesn’t shirk away from much but one thing in his time in Ballybofey that has caused the Finn Harps manager certain consternation is playing two matches over the course of the one weekend.

Horgan always took a ‘horses for courses’ attitude, although with a squad of players he is still familiarising himself with, you get the feeling Harps could’ve done without a double-weekend with both fixtures away from home, to begin their SSE Premier Division campaign.

UCD at the Belfield Bowl are the first of those, this Friday, with a daunting trip to Oriel Park to take on Dundalk on Monday then before Bohemians will be the first visitors’ to Navenny Street on Friday week. Horgan will be watching from the stand against UCD as his sending off at Richmond Park in the penultimate match of last season has spilled over into this.

Last Friday, Harps’ opening fixture against Drogheda United was postponed following a couple of pitch inspections early in the day. Referee Damien MacGraith, faced with a blanket of snow over the playing surface, made the call at lunchtime.

“It was disappointing for everyone,” Horgan said of the postponement. “But look, it was out of our control and the match at the Showgrounds between Sligo Rovers and Bohemians was also postponed so there wasn’t much we could do.

“It does, though, leave us in a situation where we start the season with two away matches in four days, which isn’t ideal, but that’s the way it is so we’ll just get on with it.”

UCD lost their opening fixture 3-0 at Tallaght Stadium against Shamrock Rovers and on the face of it, the result looks predictable.

The Students had their chances though and Roves goalkeeper Alan Mannus snuffed out a brace of scorable chances from Liam Kerrigan before Rovers took control late in the first half with goals from Sean Hoare and Danny Mandroiu.

Graham Burke was then sprung from the bench to add the gloss to a dominant second half display with a third strike later on to put a decent gloss on things for Stephen Bradley’s side.

Horgan will be facing former assistant William O’Connor from Buncrana, who is UCD first team assistant manager, while former Harps players Michael Gallagher from Letterkenny and Carndonagh’;s Sma Todd lined up in the back four, although Gallagher was withdrawn through injury at half-time.

Jack Keaney, previously on the books of Sligo Rovers and a native of Donegal town, played in midfield. Kerrigan is the standout danger, while 21-year-old Collie Whelan’s 27 goals last season attracted the interest of Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne.

“UCD are a very good footballing side and should really have got the opening goal in Tallaght last Friday,” Horgan added. “They have good qualities. We’ve never had it easy in my time when we went to Belfield and won only once to the best of my recollections.”

That was the semi-final first leg of the 2015 promotion play-off, when Ciaran Coll scored the only goal after 24 seconds.
Horgan admits he had a team in mind although not put into writing ahead of Drogheda last Friday, although that’s not necessarily the side that will start this Friday. UCD will, presumably, offer a better chance of a return than Dundalk, although Horgan is still running through the possibilities.

“I had a team in mind last week, although now we have a different set of hurdles to clear,” he added. “We’re still getting things together here and seeing what’s what. Friday and then Monday will give us a better idea of that.”