Finn Harps 1 – 0 Longford Town, Finn Park, Ballybofey, 14.03.09
Week two of the new League of Ireland season and Finn Harps kicked off their home campaign against Longford Town, having started the season with a 1-1 draw with Kildare County in Newbridge the previous week.
The first home game of the season has always been an occassion to pique the interest and excitement of supporters. A fresh start, a new challenge and a chance to write the dissappointment of last season into the annals of history. However, arrriving at the ground some thirty minutes before kick-off I was surprised to see so few spectators and feared that this may be a 'one man and his dog' attendance. Indeed one line in particular from the match programme seemed to ring with a terrifying air of forboding 'If we don't get our act together now then we really do have to wonder if the club has a future'. At 19:20 the paltry attendance provided a damning visual indictment of the club's predicament and the uncertainty to which Harps and possibly most of the League of Ireland clubs face in the forseeable future. Not all doom and gloom though the punters began taken their places in greater numbers as kick-off approached but the atmosphere of previous seasons seems long gone given the lack of lustre from the traditionally vociferous home support.
The Harps performance however, certainly was encouraging and the improvement in initiative and application even in one week would suggest that this fledgling group of young Harps may be there or there abouts when the curtain comes down on the league season in November. Over the ninety minutes Harps were certainly the more attack minded of the to sides but it wasn't until the second half that the home side began to up the pace of the game. The first real chance of the game fell to Harps after 12 minutes when Longford failed to clear a corner and Harps came close to breaking the deadlock in the enschuing scramble. Longford followed that by creating two scoreable opportunities in as many minutes but McCartney and Lynch both missed their chance to give 'Town the lead. But there was little else of real note from the first half.
In the second period, Harps signalled their intentions early on when Funston beat the full-back and pulled the ball back into the path of Gethins, lurking just inside the box, but the captain's shot went over the bar. Havlin missed another chance for Harps on 52' and at that stage it appeared as if we were witnessing another in a long line of 'Long-Nights' at Finn Park. Harps got their best opportunity on 74' when Gough handled Gethins shot and received a straight red card. The Harps captain calmly took the resulting spot-kick and gave the Donegal men the lead. Harps man advantage was doubled minutes later when 'Town's Liam Lynch went in late of Michael Funston. The Harp's man took exception to the late challenge but it was the Longford man who reacted and shoved Funston to ground. There was little protest to the straight red card and at that stage any flickering hope of a Longford Town comeback was extinguished.
A narrow but arguably deserved victory for Finn Harps making up somewhat for the dissappointment of dropping two points away from home the previous week. On tonight's showing both sides have ample opportunity and able enough squads to mount a challenge for promotion from a remarkably competitive divison. However the current situation in which Finn Harps find themselves may be attributed to proverbial 'Poisioned Chalice' of promotion. Promotion to the League of Ireland Premier Divison isn't the windfall it is for clubs in a similar position across the Irish Sea. The increase in budgets on all fronts makes the task of surviving the Premier Divison so much than a simple case of producing the goods on the football field. Maybe in that rather dark another year to build this young squad up, in the First Divison may not be such a bad thing after all.
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