International break gives Harps and Horgan a chance to assess season so far

Ollie Horgan admits he’s not sure if the international break in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division has come at a good time or not for Finn Harps.

He watched his team pick up a welcome first win of the season last Friday night when they beat Shelbourne 3-0 at Tolka Park.

However, a pause in the fixtures schedule means Harps won’t be able to build on that momentum until Friday week when they return to action against Shamrock Rovers in Ballybofey.

“It’s difficult to know if it’s a good thing or not,” Horgan said about the international break.

“But we've got to get on with it. The clubs voted for it and we knew it was happening.

Luke Barrett's Donegal minors face toughest test to date against Derry on Saturday

Donegal have won one and lost one so far in the Jim McGuigan Cup campaign

“Ideally, for a club like Finn Harps, we want to be playing our home matches on Friday evenings and I know if we had Drogheda United in Ballybofey on Friday night, we’d pack the place out.

“Will we get as good a crowd when we play them on Monday week? I don’t know.”

Harps sit one place off the bottom, although it’s pretty congested at that end of the table. Horgan’s side are only three points behind Dundalk who sit in 5th. Indeed Dundalk have played a game more than the Donegal side.

Eric McWoods celebrates scoring his first Harps goal in the recent win over Shelbourne at Tolka Park. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Harps have played quite well in their six games to date even if results haven’t gone their way in most of those outings.

The win at Shelbourne will see Harps enter a busy run of home fixtures with their tails up.

They play Shamrock Rovers at Finn Park on Friday week, April 1 (8pm) and then Drogheda United at home on Monday night, April 4 (8pm).

The match against Derry City was this week rescheduled to Saturday, April 9 and will have a 5.30pm kick-off.

On the change to the Derry fixture, Horgan said that if nothing else, the pitch will get a welcome rest after hosting two games in the space of four days earlier in the week.

“It’s going to be busy and that can take its toll on your squad,” Horgan said.

“We got a good win at Shelbourne, but we need now to kick on and pick up a few more results.

“Yeh, when you’ve three games at home, you’d like to think you have a chance. But two of those games are against the two best teams in the country at the minute.

“And Drogheda have shown that they’re a good side. They’ve got good players who know this league well.

“They’re just above us in the table. The aim would be to try and stay in touch with them, and that makes the game against them on Monday week all the more important.”