Finn Harps finished their final home game of the league season with a 4-1 rout of Athlone Town in Ballybofey this afternoon.
Tony McNamee got the scoring started for Harps in the fourth minute, before Athlone pulled one back ten minutes later after a Jamie Watson own goal.
But it was Ryan Flood who was the star of the show, bagging a second half hat trick to send the Finn Park fans home happy after a difficult season re-adjusting to life in the First Division.
He scored his first after a set-piece routine straight from the training ground in the 47th minute, the ball taking a friendly deflection on the way in.
Then Flood was as cool as the other side of the pillow from the penalty spot, bagging the second and third goals of his hat-trick from the penalty spot on the 62nd minute and then in injury time at the end of the game.
Harps remain 9th in the First Division table on 36 points, only ahead of league newcomers Kerry FC – but perhaps this is the kind of result that can give the Harps faithful hope going into the Winter off-season.
