Finn Harps will hope to continue their good start to the season when they host Cobh Ramblers at Finn Park on Friday evening (kick-off 8.00pm).
Harps have picked up four points from their opening two games of the season and have kept a clean sheet in both games. However, boss Ollie Horgan is refusing to get carried away and is expecting a tough task on Friday evening against the Cork men.
“Cobh will be a huge task for us,” said Horgan. “They have great attacking threats proven by the number of goals they have scored last season and indeed this year so far.
“Bobbi Donoghue and Martin Deady will need constant watching down the flanks. Damien O’Rourke has come in at centre half and will provide huge experience as well as problems to us at set pieces,” warned Horgan. “Even if we had a full panel to choose from, this game would be difficult so we know what lies ahead for us.”
Horgan watched his side beat Shamrock Rovers ‘B’ at Tallaght Stadium last Sunday with four of his senior players absent, and he will have to do without them again this weekend.
“Sean McCarron has suffered a fracture to his cheek bone – it was operated on Saturday last and he will be out for around 6 weeks,” confirmed Horgan. “Ciaran Coll was admitted to hospital last week with stomach and chest pains and timescale for his absence is up in the air a little pending results of tests. Kevin McHugh and Gareth Harkin have ongoing hamstring problems but we hope to have them back in a week or two.”
However, Josh Mailey played his first game for Harps in the Ulster Senior League last Sunday and will come into contention for Friday’s game.
Although Harps ran out comfortable 3-0 winners against Rovers, Horgan felt the game wasn’t as one sided as the scoreline suggests.
“Obviously I was delighted to get a win, considering the number of players out injured,” said Horgan. But, I felt the score line flattered us a little as it could have gone either way until we scored the second goal.
“Keeping a clean sheet away from home was pleasing as was the fact that we got a result without playing particularly well,” continued the Harps boss.
Harps and Cobh played each other six times last season, including twice in the FAI Cup. Between them they scored a total of 26 goals in the six games with Harps winning on three occasions and Cobh just once. The two other games of which both were at Finn Park finished in draws – one in the league and one in the FAI Cup.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TEAM NEWS
Suspended: None.
Doubtful: None.
Injured: Kevin McHugh (hamstring), Gareth Harkin (hamstring), Sean McCarron (fractured cheek), Ciaran Coll (chest).
Form Guide (last six league games)
Finn Harps: L-L-W-D-D-W (8 pts)
Cobh Ramblers: L-W-L-W-D-L (7 pts)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finn Harps Goalscorers 2014
Keith Cowan – 1
Michael Funston – 1
Pat McCann – 1
Ruairi Keating – 1 (in League Cup)
Sean McCarron – 1 (in League Cup)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finn Harps Results 2014 (Finn Harps scorers in brackets)
16-Mar-2014 – Lg – Shamrock Rovers B 0-3 Finn Harps (Cowan, Funston, McCann)
10-Mar-2014 – LC – Finn Harps 3-2 Cockhill Celtic (McCarron, O’Donnell o.g., Keating)
07-Mar-2014 – Lg – Finn Harps 0-0 Waterford United
Tags:
