Ollie Horgan says he won’t make wholesale changes this evening when Finn Harps host Mayo League in the EA Sports Cup at Finn Park (kick-off 7.45pm).
After Friday’s 1-1 draw with Shelbourne, when Harps finally got the 2018 season underway, and with the St Patrick’s Day trip to Cobh in mind, there will be some switches in personnel.
However, the Harps boss won’t tinker too much as he targets progression in the competition.
“It will be a dog fight,” predicted Horgan, who has confirmed that Paddy McCourt (groin), Keith Cowan (hamstring) and BJ Banda (knee) will not feature.
Harps are also still without Eric Whelan, while Ciaran Coll may sit out after coming through 90 minutes on Friday.
“There’ll be some changes, but the Mayo League are a strong side.
“We went down to play Manulla – one side in the Mayo League, a League of two divisions with 16 teams they can pick from – in pre-season.
“We were two-nil down against Manulla after eight minutes. They have a lot of ex-League of Ireland lads and we know what’s coming up against it.”
While the League will be Horgan’s priority, the Harps manager would like to advance in the Cup to give his squad a good going over as the season evolves.
The likes of John O’Flynn, Lee Toland, Peter Burke and Mayo League product Jesse Devers are among those vying for elevation to the starting XI for this evening’s clash.
Horgan said: “We don’t want to lose to Mayo League. We need to put a side out that will compete. We need to be strong to have a chance of progressing.
“We don’t know what our best team is yet.
“Yes, there will be a number of people who’ll come in. They might be in our best team – we don’t know that.”
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