This Friday night sees the start of the second series of matches in the League of Ireland Premier campaign. And for Finn Harps it’s a daunting trip to take on the top team in the country Cork City at Turners Cross (kick-off 7.45). It would be an extremely tough test with a fully fit squad but Harps could be forced to travel south with just 14 players according to manager Ollie Horgan.
“We went to Bohemians with 16 players and now we are missing Eddie Dsane and Barry Molloy so that would make it 14. We normally have 18 names for the squad. So we’re actually worse off in terms of the injury situation with Eddie [Dsane] definitely out as he aggravated a back injury because we had to use him as a sub against Bohemians on Friday night. We’re waiting on the results of a scan back to see what the problem is. Barry [Molloy] is ruled because of the sending-off against Bohs.”
On the plus side Ciaran O’Connor (pictured) did return against Bohs, while Horgan will be hoping that Mickey Funston will be available again after missing the Bohemians game. Danny Morrissey remains out and so misses the opportunity to feature against his former club due to an ongoing hamstring problem, while Jonny Bonner will not feature with a similar injury and B.J. Banda is out long term with knee damage. Packie Mailey and Harry Doherty are still recovering from the clash of heads in the Sligo game and won’t travel to Cork while Paddy McCourt will be in the squad but continues to be troubled by a hip injury.
John Caufield’s men are the runaway Premier Division League leaders having won all of their eleven league games so far this season plus two the two EA Cup matches, so that is the scale of the challenge facing Harps. That tremendous run started on the opening night of the campaign with a 1-0 victory over Horgan’s side in Ballybofey when Sean Maguire scored just before half-time.
“Cork have done brilliantly this season. They have been a great side and if Dundalk hadn’t been there then they could be going for four league titles in a row instead. John Caufield has done a great job. Season on season, Cork has got better. 13 straight wins shows the tremendous ability of their team. Nobody gives us a chance going down to Turners Cross but we’ll prepare as we always do. We’ll give it everything and see where that brings us” Horgan said.
So Harps will be very long odds to get anything out of this clash and in fact the hosts will be expected to take the three points with some comfort. Horgan’s outfit travel south on the back of two disappointing defeats against Drogheda at Finn Park and Bohemians last Friday night in Dalymount Park.
TEAM NEWS
Suspended: Barry Molloy
Injured: Eddie Dsane, Danny Morrissey, Jonny Bonner, Packie Mailey, Harry Doherty, B.J. Banda
Doubtful: Paddy McCourt
RECORD AGAINST CORK CITY (All Competitions)
Monday’s game will be the 40th meeting of the two clubs, and the 19th to be played in Cork.
Total Games: 39 (18 in Cork)
Harps Wins: 4 (1 in Cork)
Cork Wins: 25 (14 in Cork)
Draws: 9 (3 in Cork)
Harps Goals: 22 (8 in Cork)
Cork Goals: 63 (41 in Cork)
LAST 10 GAMES v CORK CITY
30-Apr-10 Finn Harps 0-0 Cork City (First Division)
23-Jul-10 Cork City 2-1 Finn Harps (First Division)
15-Oct-10 Finn Harps 1-0 Cork City (First Division)
15-Apr-11 Cork City 5-0 Finn Harps (First Division)
02-Jul-11 Finn Harps 0-2 Cork City (First Division)
30-Sep-11 Cork City 5-2 Finn Harps (First Division)
22-Apr-16 Cork City 3-1 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
19-Sept-16 Finn Harps 0-1 Cork City (Premier Division)
14-Oct-16 Cork City 2-0 Finn Harps (Premier Division)
24-Feb-15 Finn Harps 0-1 Cork City (Premier Division)
OUR LAST MEETING WITH CORK CITY
Friday 24th February 2016 League of Ireland Premier Division
Finn Harps 0
Cork City 1, Sean Maguire 44
Finn Harps: Ciaran Gallagher; Ethan Boyle, Damien McNulty, Killian Cantwell, Ciaran Coll; Caolan McAleer, Sean Houston (Paddy McCourt 70), Barry Molloy (Gareth Harkin 77), Jonny Bonner; Danny Morrissey (Eddie Dsane 77), Ciaran O’Connor. Not used: Packie Mailey, Mickey Funston, Tommy McMonagle, Harry Doherty (GK).
Cork City: Mark McNulty; Conor McCormack, Johnny Dunleavy, Ryan Delaney, Kevin O’Connor; Jimmy Keohane, Gearoid Morrissey, Greg Bolger (Karl Sheppard 70), Steven Dooley (Alan Bennett 90); Garry Buckley; Sean Maguire. Referee: Robert Harvey
FINN HARPS GOALSCORERS 2017 (All competitions)
Ciaran O’Connor – 4
Sean Houston – 4 (1 EA Sports Cup)
Jonny Bonner – 2 (2 EA Sports Cup)
Ethan Boyle – 1
Kilian Cantwell – 1
Caolan McAleer – 1
Paddy McCourt – 1
BJ Banda – 1
Michael Funston – 1
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FINN HARPS RESULTS 2017
Fri 24-Feb Finn Harps 0-1 Cork City
Fri 03-Mar Bray Wanderers 5–3 Finn Harps
Fri 10-Mar Finn Harps 1-1 Galway Utd
Mon 13-Mar St. Patrick’s Athletic 1-2 Finn Harps
Sat 18-Mar Limerick 1-1 Finn Harps
Sat 25-Mar Finn Harps 2-1 Sligo Rovers
Fri 31-Mar Shamrock Rovers 3-2 Finn Harps
Mon 03-Apr Finn Harps 3-1 Cockhill Celtic (EA Sports Cup)
Fri 07-Apr Finn Harps 0-2 Dundalk
Fri 14-Apr Derry City 0-2 Finn Harps
Mon 16-Apr Finn Harps 0-1 Sligo Rovers (EA Sports Cup)
Fri 21-Apr Finn Harps 0-2 Drogheda United
FINN HARPS REMAINING FIXTURES 2017
05-May, 7.45pm Cork City v Finn Harps, Turners Cross
12-May, 8pm Finn Harps v Bray Wanderers, Finn Park
19-May, 7.45pm Galway United v Finn Harps, Eamonn Deacy Park
22/23 May, 8pm Finn Harps v St Patrick’s Athletic, Finn Park
26-May, 8pm Finn Harps v Limerick, Finn Park
02-Jun, 7.45pm Sligo Rovers v Finn Harps, Showgrounds
16-Jun, 8pm Finn Harps v Shamrock Rovers, Finn Park
23-Jun, 7.45pm Dundalk v Finn Harps, Oriel Park
30-Jun, 8pm Finn Harps v Derry City, Finn Park
07-Jul, 7.45pm Drogheda United v Finn Harps, United Park
14-Jul, 8pm Finn Harps v Bohemian FC, Finn Park
21-Jul, 8pm Finn Harps v Cork City, Finn Park
28-Jul, 7.45pm Bray Wanderers v Finn Harps, Carlisle Grounds
04-Aug, 8pm Finn Harps v Galway United, Finn Park
18-Aug, 7.45pm St Patrick’s Athletic v Finn Harps, Richmond Park
02-Sep, 6.30pm Limerick v Finn Harps, Market Field
15-Sep, 8pm Finn Harps v Sligo Rovers, Finn Park
22-Sep, 8pm Shamrock Rovers v Finn Harps, Tallaght Stadium
07-Oct, 7.45pm Finn Harps v Dundalk, Finn Park
15-Oct, 2pm Derry City v Finn Harps, Maginn Park
20-Oct, 8pm Finn Harps v Drogheda United, Finn Park
27-Oct, 7.45pm Bohemian FC v Finn Harps, Dalymount Park
Compiled by Finn Harps Media Team, fhfcmedia@gmail.com
