Harps manager Horgan: ‘It’s our biggest challenge but we’re not done for yet’

Just shy of a year ago, Adam Foley cupped his hands to his ears to a group of Derry City supporters who had shown commendable ingenuity to watch the north-west derby amid lockdown by scaling the old red-brick exterior wall on Brandywell Row for a peek.

Foley’s last minute goal had given Finn Harps their first ever win in the Premier Division at their rivals’ ground and although the response from the locals wasn’t the most complimentary, little did anyone care. It marked the end of a very decent first quarter to the campaign where Harps picked up 14 points from their first nine fixtures.

“We’ll be happy enough to get to Kilkee,” was manager Ollie Horgan’s response when he was asked if he thought his side were paving their way to European qualification, making reference to the small seaside town in Clare, with the horse-shoe shaped bay protected by the Duggerna Rocks he had holidayed in as a child who grew up in Galway to a Limerick mother.

Pouring some water on the fire, he suggested that all he was thinking about was Harps’ next fixture, away to Bohemians at Dalymount Park, where his side “needed to be on it” or they could face a thumping.

Horgan has often been accused of downplaying Harps. But that following Saturday as he headed for the dressing rooms with his side 3-0 down in the sunshine in Phibsborough, with Ali Coote netting a first-half brace for the hosts after Ross Tierney had given Keith Long’s side a 14th minute lead, his post-match feelings from Derry were shown to be accurate. Assistant manager Paul Hegarty stressed that three intervals substitutions were enough, with Horgan so dissatisfied he considered changing five. Harps ended up losing 4-0.

“They destroyed us last year,” Horgan recalled this week, although his side did fare much better on their second visit to the home of Irish football, surviving a first half onslaught to post a notable 2-0 victory with Ethan Boyle and Daniel Hawkins scoring a week before Halloween.

This year, Harps have six points, a fine 3-0 victory at Shelbourne and three draws, to show for their first series of fixtures. Last Saturday, in a scoreline reversal to that when Foley scored at the Brandywell, they were beaten 2-1 by Derry City, with Cameron McJannett and Will Patching goals, before a late Filip Mihaljevic in reply, which enabled Ruaidhrí Higgins' side to re-establish a six-point margin at the top of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.

Only three players - goalkeeper Mark Anthony McGinley, captain Dave Webster and Barry McNamee - started last Saturday and in Dalymount last May. The endeavor shown by the new recruits has been commendable, but McNamee, like his manager, says it’s time to move on from ‘moral victories’.

“We have to move on as quickly as we can,” the midfielder said last week. “Last year we beat all the top teams, whereas this year there hasn’t been that many upsets. The new players are all top men and they come in and work as hard as anyone. You can’t use that as an excuse any more though, the first round of fixtures is over and we’re second bottom so we need to get points on the table and saying about new players is not an excuse any more.”



Bohemians is the first of three fixtures in eight days for Horgan’s team, with Sligo Rovers due at Finn Park on Easter Monday before another journey to the capital on Friday to play St Patrick’s Athletic. Harps have no definite absentees as yet, although they will decide in certain cases on whether some might be better to wait until Monday.

“We’ve played all the teams now and it’s every bit as difficult as we had envisioned before the season started,” Horgan added. “For now, all we’re looking at is Bohemians and they’re improving all the time. They won 1-0 at Sligo Rovers last Tuesday week and were very impressive, scoring one and they could’ve had a few more but for Ed McGinty in the Sligo goal.

“Yes it’s tough. Looking back there’s games that we could’ve done better in and then there’s ones that might’ve been worse. We do, though, when all is said and done, need to get better. There’s no easy fixture in this division and the first set of games has shown that. This is as big a challenge as I’ve faced in nine years here but we’re certainly not done for yet.”