After gaining their first point in the 2017 SSE Airtricity League Premier Division on Friday night, Finn Harps will go in search of their first win tonight as they travel to the capital to take on St Patrick’s Athletic.
The Inchicore based side, under manager Liam Buckley, failed to justify expectations in 2016 and that seems to have carried over into this season also.
Two poor defeats to Bray and Drogheda, followed by a 1-1 draw with Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds on Friday, has Buckley under real pressure.
For Harps, a narrow defeat to Cork followed by an 8-goal thriller against Bray before Friday night’s 1-1 draw with Galway United, has Ollie Horgan’s men heading to the capital with plenty of confidence. They’ve been scoring goals, whilst blooding new signings into the squad. Pats have been quite poor defensively, plus not creating much going forward. Things will need to improve quickly, as Pats will have to face Dundalk, Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians in the next three games.
We spoke to our sponsored player at Harps, Kilian Cantwell before tonight’s game.
Cantwell said, “Before going into Friday’s game neither us or Galway had any points on the board which meant both teams were looking to come away with something.”
“Chances for both teams to take the full 3 points were created but just one of those games that looked like it was going to end in a draw.”
“A few new members have been added to the squad from last year including myself, trying to get to know how players play and so forth is still apart of the game which we are trying to perfect. Three games in now and you can see that a sense of direction is being formed in which way we want to approach certain games.”
On playing with former Northern Ireland International Paddy McCourt, “When we were under pressure against Galway it was vital to have a player like Paddy McCourt on your side with his passing range that is as accurate as i’ve ever seen. The whole squad put in an important shift to get the ball rolling and now we are just looking forward to our next game on Monday night away to Pats.”
Photo Credit: Stephen Doherty