Dykes says he’s ‘too long in the tooth’ to be talking about officials

Finn Harps assistant manager Gavin Dykes said their 3-2 win over Sligo Rovers was just what was needed following the 2-1 loss at UCD seven nights’ beforehand.

The Ballybofey side squandered a lead at Belfield from a Filip Mihaljević penalty to lose out in a vital six-pointer and fall to the bottom of the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division table. However, Harps got back on their feet and off the bottom with the Students losing 2-1 against St Patrick’s Athletic doubling with their north-west derby success.

Despite losing manager Ollie Horgan to a 12th minute red card, the home side went in at the break two goals to the good, with Barry McNamee and Ryan Rainey the scorers. Ryan Connolly made it 3-1 from a penalty before getting sent off and then Aidan Keena’s second goal of the night - also from the spot - made for a tense finish.

“All I’m saying is that without the officials the game can’t go ahead,” Dykes said diplomatically afterwards. “That’s as much as I’m going to say about it. There’s no point in even talking about it. I don’t even want to go there. I’m too long in the tooth talking about it. 

Finn Harps edge out Sligo Rovers in thrilling north-west derby

Despite losing manager Ollie Horgan to an early red card, Finn Harps - who ended up with 10 men - got the better of Sligo Rovers with Barry McNamee, Ryan Rainey and Ryan Connolly the scorers

“It was a great game of football and it’s what derbies are about. It had everything. Luckily we  came out on the right side of it but it could’ve gone either way - Sligo are a very good side. They’ve had a fantastic European campaign but we needed to bounce back from last week. We were so deflated. 

“We went 1-0 up last week and we felt we were good enough to go two up but we didn’t manage the game. We conceded three or four minutes later and suddenly it was game on and we ended up losing. The response tonight though, was great.”

Within a minute and a half of the restart, Sligo pulled themselves back to 2-1 with Keena’s first of the evening,  to really make a game of it.

“The message at half-time was not to concede early in the second half and Aidan Keena ended up scoring from our throw-in. You know what Sligo do and they’re so good at moving the ball. We gave Elie (N’Zeyi) a job on Keena and he went forward for our throw and then they break and it’s a goal. It’s a brilliant finish from Aidan. He’s quality.”

With Harps now having won their last two home matches on the bounce - they’d only picked up a single victory in the previous 12 this season in Ballybofey - the Finn Park factor will be important as the campaign draws to an end. 

“We’ve four home games left,” Dykes added. “We’ve a war and we’ve battles on our hands - we know that - but we’ll keep at it. Sligo missed a chance when the game was at 0-0 but we managed to get the two goals and might even have gone in three up at the break. We took the chances. I complimented the boys on the week’s training they did. Their attitude was great and that’s two wins in a row at home. It’s difficult to pick yourself up every single week. 

“I’m delighted for Ryan Rainey as I’ve been giving him some stick and he scored the second one. Barry’s goal before that is a goal of the season contender. He’s worked so hard and it was a great strike. We have to push on though. We’re out of the cup and we’ve two weeks now. We’re just happy enough with the three points.”