Away to Athlone

[Sam_Heggy]

Athlone 7/4
Draw 11/5
Harps 11/8

http://www.paddypower.com/football/football-matches/league-of-ireland-division-1-matches/Athlone-Town-v-Finn-Harps-2926821.html

Id say the line up will be:

Gallagher

Redmond, McLaughlin, O'Hagan, JP Gallagher

Devanney, Curran, Forker, Brolly

McHugh, Curtis

Possibly O'Donnell in for Devanney and Bonner for Forker but hard to guess.

jeez, it just aint the same on here lads. :(

[Mr A]

Jeepers, that isn't the strongest looking line up :(

[eL Bettor]

Harps backed in hugely today. Athlone draw no bet now close to 2/1 in what I see as a 50-50 game. Any opinions from Harps fans?

[Sam_Heggy]

side is:

Gallagher

Redmond, McLaughlin, O'Hagan, JP

McGoldrick, O'Mahoney, Curran, Devanney

McHugh, O'Donnell

subs:
Patton
Curtis
McGinty
McFadden
Harkin

[Sam_Heggy]

Harps backed in hugely today. Athlone draw no bet now close to 2/1 in what I see as a 50-50 game. Any opinions from Harps fans?

I was all for lumping on Harps -1 at 4/1 but now Id stay well clear.

nb. we will probably batter them now that I said that.

[Sam_Heggy]

One up McHugh :)

[corkharps]

:-):tongue:

[Sam_Heggy]

ht 1-0

Poor match but we're winning at least.

crowd of 150-200

We had one shot and they had none.

3 of the 4 in midfield are shocking. Not hard to guess who.

[corkharps]

story??

[corkharps]

1-0 full time . good away result.

[nigel-harps1954]

No reports, no anything on the game. Anyone have any sort of report? Harps website, extratime.ie, athlone website...nothing.

[harpstilidie]

Terrible game from two terrible teams.

We were better than them but not by much. McHugh was a class apart and was the only difference in those teams. He controlled a difficult ball from the left just outside the box, turned onto his right, doing the defender and put it in the bottom corner. Class finish.

Apart from that we never tested their keeper apart from a shot from Redmond which he tipped over the bar. We had a few chances with O'Donnell and Curtis but none of them were near the target.

Athlone had a great chance just after half-time, was certain it was a goal. Well worked down the right, ball in and Noel McGee just had to tap it in and Gallagher made a fantastic save. Apart from that and a few set pieces Athlone didn't threaten. Very poor side. Give some ratings I suppose.

Gallagher- 8- Good kicking with both feet, good catching and excellent save.
Redmond- 7- Very solid.
JP- 7- Same.
Paddy Mac- 9- My MOTM, his experience was vital last night, won everything.
Hagey- 7- decent game.
Devaney- 5- poor apart from his deliveries. Shouldn't be keeping Forker out of the team.
McGoldrick- 3- shocking. Why Felix? Why?
O'Mahony- 6- done ok, gets on the ball more than Bonner does anyway.
Curran- 6- same.
Kev- 8- wasn't for him it would have been 0-0.
O'Donnell- 5- Very poor game, first touch was awful and hardly won a header.

Curtis- 6- ok
Harkin- 6-ok
McFadden- not on long enough.

What I can't understand is leaving Forker, Coll, Brolly, and Doc at home. Are they injured or does Felix not want them at the club? 3 points anyway I guess.

[nigel-harps1954]

Cheers for that Dan. Extratime.ie report went up but no actual reporting on the match only comments from Felix who said interestingly enough


A lot of guys were left out on Saturday night but it was just a case of we wanted to look at other players. We know what all those players can do, we brought in the four lads there from Sligo so there was point taking them in if we weren’t going to look at them.

“From now on though, we’ll be playing our best team. We’ve had a look at a lot of players these last few weeks and it’s been good, but we want to finish the season strong now. We’ve had a couple of good results and our aim is to catch the teams above us and finish as high as we can.”

Main thing is though, 3 points, 3 wins from 4. We're on the rise and against Monaghan we can actually get out of the bottom 3 for the first time this season.

[Mr A]

Nice to be able to look at players and experiment and still win three games from four. Damn we're awesome.

[Red Alert]

Great to see your form has improved since you got the sligo lads;9 pts out of a possible 12;

[Mr A]

In fairness, that was against a Wexford side that hasn't won a league game at home this season, a Mervue side stripped of their best players and a pretty poor Athlone side. Obviously it's positive, but we need to prove ourselves against the likes of Monaghan before we can really feel we're making real progress.

[Mr DJ]

Great to see your form has improved since you got the sligo lads;9 pts out of a possible 12;

It sure aint because of the Sligo lads. It will be interesting to see how many play when the lads pick their 'best' team next week.

[Red Alert]

9 pts are 9 pts, and its 9 more than you had;Your still no good enough to take pts from the top sides;But its an improvemen

[Red Alert]

It sure aint because of the Sligo lads. It will be interesting to see how many play when the lads pick their 'best' team next week.

I would say 2 from 4

[nigel-harps1954]

I would say 2 from 4

To be honest, I'd say none of them, or at least hope none of them. They're all muck. Curran has been disappointing from what I've seen of him, and the other 3 are just terrible.

[Red Alert]

cant understand you harps supporters, you get 4 new players for free, Yes free, they have come from a team that play football, Thats passing the Ball. Not long balls lumped forward,It takes time to join a new team,Give then a chance; Dont judge them on a couple of games,
You are playing in the worst division and in one of the worst grounds in the country.What is it, Is it that there not from Donegal;
you have a good management team and are building a new ground, Do you want to be playing poor football against poor teams with 100 people watching you;The nort west needs 3 teams up there, So give them a chance there all good players;

[Mr DJ]

9 pts are 9 pts, and its 9 more than you had;Your still no good enough to take pts from the top sides;But its an improvemen

Well that's obvious. You mistake my point it would seem. I'm felix and pizzas biggest fan, I think the improvement under them has been fantastic compared to the James Gallagher reign, but you wanted to link our improved results to the Sligo players who arrived and that's simply not the case.

[Sam_Heggy]

cant understand you harps supporters, you get 4 new players for free, Yes free, they have come from a team that play football, Thats passing the Ball. Not long balls lumped forward,

3 of them came from Sligo Rovers, the other from Galway United.
They also came from Sligo A League, they most certainly lumped the ball when I saw them the past 3 seasons


It takes time to join a new team,Give then a chance; Dont judge them on a couple of games,

The comments have all been about the game.


you have a good management team and are building a new ground, Do you want to be playing poor football against poor teams with 100 people watching you;The nort west needs 3 teams up there, So give them a chance there all good players;

The management team is doing a fine job, we're improving all the time, there is no problemo there.
I have yet to see any side get promoted from this sh!t hole of a division playing attractive (bar UCD in '09), I dont care if we are a team of hoof merchants as long as we get results.

Are you suggesting that these Sligo lads are the key to getting us promoted? Sorry but that's waaayyyy off.

[cestlavie]

We will take any win to be honest, when you are 1 up against Athlone at the moment you always have a good chance that you can see out the game. 12 goals from 22 matches tells its own story.

We havent really played any team of note recently but you can only beat whats in front of you.

None of those Sligo players are good enough and are no better than the players we have or have left the A team of late.

The problem with Felix is a communitcation problem. He will drive out some of this team as he has done with others over the past month or 2.

Anyhow we will see what happens. 1 thing is for certain we will see how good a manger he is with no cash to spend.

[Mr DJ]

We will take any win to be honest, when you are 1 up against Athlone at the moment you always have a good chance that you can see out the game. 12 goals from 22 matches tells its own story.

We havent really played any team of note recently but you can only beat whats in front of you.

None of those Sligo players are good enough and are no better than the players we have or have left the A team of late.

The problem with Felix is a communitcation problem. He will drive out some of this team as he has done with others over the past month or 2.

Anyhow we will see what happens. 1 thing is for certain we will see how good a manger he is with no cash to spend.

Of course he will drive out players, he took over a severely lacking squad what was he supposed to do keep them all and not bring new players in? No one has left who was setting the team alight now have they? If they are good enough he will play them. I really don't understand the negativity towards a man who previously got us promoted and has, with the problems he inherited, got us 18 points from 15 games as opposed to the previous management's 3 points from 7. He did that with no money.

[hitman07]

I agree Mr DJ 100%. Give the gaffer a break ffs

[Red Alert]

3 of them came from Sligo Rovers, the other from Galway United.
They also came from Sligo A League, they most certainly lumped the ball when I saw them the past 3 seasons



The comments have all been about the game.



The management team is doing a fine job, we're improving all the time, there is no problemo there.
I have yet to see any side get promoted from this sh!t hole of a division playing attractive (bar UCD in '09), I dont care if we are a team of hoof merchants as long as we get results.

Are you suggesting that these Sligo lads are the key to getting us promoted? Sorry but that's waaayyyy off.
McGoldrick is a first team player and is on loan; He has a 2 year contract with rovers

[cestlavie]

I agree with you, He has too get rid of certain people who were simply not up to it but to drive out people who have the potential to be stalwarts for the club in the future, players that are better than some of the newbies that have come in, quite simply is poor management, we cant afford to drive out local talent. \

I can even see young players from my area deciding to join Derry City etc under 19 team as they dont feel that they will be looked after at Finn Park. The club faces an uncertain future, the economy is experiencing very difficult times, Its a tough time for boards and management alike but we have to harness local talent not neglect it.

When a player joins a club like Finn Harps they want to get the chance & opportunity to show that they are good enough to play senior football but if they are not even given that chance it a complete shambles. Players cant develop or feel part of things if they dont even know if they should turn up to be on the panel for a game and when they dont show up they are scapegoated.

Rant over, hope they can keep winning all the same, Donegal needs senior football and the north west is much better for it if we have 3 senior teams. We depend on each others existence and success.

[Red Alert]

Im not saying that the Sligo lads are any better than what you have; All Im saying is, give them a proper chance before you start abusing then; There all young lads and are all good players. You will not get promoted this year and i didnt say that the sligo lads would help you too, But you cant depend on Donegal Lads to get promoted, You will all have to accept players to help you get promoted, I,m not knocking Finn Harps, I would love to see 3 Clubs from the north West playing at a proper standard;And I hope you go on a good run; But if your Manager picks Sligo players, Support them as if they were from Donegal; Thats what we do here and its going well,

[Red Alert]

Agree; I knew there were still nice people in Donegal; Its all about getting the mix right.

[nigel-harps1954]

Of course he will drive out players, he took over a severely lacking squad what was he supposed to do keep them all and not bring new players in? No one has left who was setting the team alight now have they? If they are good enough he will play them. I really don't understand the negativity towards a man who previously got us promoted and has, with the problems he inherited, got us 18 points from 15 games as opposed to the previous management's 3 points from 7. He did that with no money.

Did you watch the A league team at all this season? I'd blame Felix for driving out some quality young players because he never gave them a chance while he bought in players struggling to get into the Sligo A team (who were muck themselves) and threw them straight into the first team? Makes no sense to me really. Next weekend will tell the tale though, Felix said from now on he's to play his strongest team for the rest of the season. We'll see what happens then. I'd like to see those Sligo lads shipped out personally but sure at the end of the day it's up to the management team.

[Mr DJ]

I agree with you, He has too get rid of certain people who were simply not up to it but to drive out people who have the potential to be stalwarts for the club in the future, players that are better than some of the newbies that have come in,

Who did he let go that falls into this category?

[Mr DJ]

Did you watch the A league team at all this season? I'd blame Felix for driving out some quality young players because he never gave them a chance while he bought in players struggling to get into the Sligo A team (who were muck themselves) and threw them straight into the first team?

Of course I didn't I have a life. Again I'd say who are these players?

Felix has promoted McAlwee, Redmond and Curtis as regular features in the first team, he's only been in charge for 15 matches. The lesson of this is ... If they are good enough he will play them.

[cestlavie]

Felix has promoted McAlwee, Redmond and Curtis as regular features in the first team, he's only been in charge for 15 matches. The lesson of this is ... If they are good enough he will play them. [/QUOTE]

McAlwee and Curtis were involved with the first team squad before Felix came in. Some of the players that have left us in past few months people like Raymond Foy (who goes on to be picked for home based under 19 Ireland team), Josh Mailey who wouldve been part of the first team squad in 2010 had it not been for injury but who wasnt even given a chance apart from warming the 1st team bench on a number of occasions. Offcourse, there are more players but some of them were given some opportunities over the past 2 years and probably just didnt cut it maybe the likes of Oisin Mc etc.

Basically, Dont isolate and make a player feel they should leave a club before they have been given an opportunity to try and stake a place in the team.

Sure the boys themselves have to stand up and take responsibility for their own actions & behaviour but its has to be a 2 way process. Failure to communicate will not stand this club in good stead when we need everybody to be rowing in the same direction.

[Mr DJ]

McAlwee and Curtis were involved with the first team squad before Felix came in. Some of the players that have left us in past few months people like Raymond Foy (who goes on to be picked for home based under 19 Ireland team), Josh Mailey who wouldve been part of the first team squad in 2010 had it not been for injury but who wasnt even given a chance apart from warming the 1st team bench on a number of occasions. Offcourse, there are more players but some of them were given some opportunities over the past 2 years and probably just didnt cut it maybe the likes of Oisin Mc etc.

Basically, Dont isolate and make a player feel they should leave a club before they have been given an opportunity to try and stake a place in the team.

Sure the boys themselves have to stand up and take responsibility for their own actions & behaviour but its has to be a 2 way process. Failure to communicate will not stand this club in good stead when we need everybody to be rowing in the same direction.

Does anyone have the figures for how many players Felix and Pizza have played since they came in? I'd say it's pretty high.
McAlwee was a late sub a couple of times, Felix made him a regular starting player. I dont think Curtis had played for the first team? if he had it was again as a late sub. Now he's an important member of the team/squad. Redmond had been completely overlooked. Do you think Josh Mailey would make the grade? I've yet to find anyone who thought he would. Foy decided to leave, well that's his decision, I didnt hear it was because of Felix.
Yes communication is important but there are three people looking after the players, Felix, Pizza (who has a degree in social work so you'd think he must be able to communicate!) and more directly Wizzy.
It'd be lovely if Harps could sign every Donegal lad who ever remotely looked like he could play football and keep them on the books but financially that isn't possible and it's not fair to the young lads themselves who should be out playing football at the highest level they are able for.
I agree wholeheartedly that over the years the club hasn't dealt with players in the manner I'd like it to. I think all people should be treated with respect at all times, but you can't pin that on this manager: the club should have a structure for bringing players through separate to the manager so that when one manager leaves and another arrives there is no disruption, indeed I thought this was in the document prepared for the club a few years ago?
At the end of the day players are happy if the manager picks them and not happy if he doesn't.

[hitman07]

I cant believe that some people want a branch of our management team gone especially after crying so hard to get someone with experience and knowhow for so long before that. After all this club has been through regarding managers coming and going like a merry-go-round i think we should back him fully and after all like Felix said on the championship winning DVD interview. The trophy says to a lot of people that doubted me and it will shut a few up.

[cestlavie]

You must not have watched any A league games or friendlies etc.

Redmond has surprised me, I didnt think he was ready for it and Im still not saying that he is but fair play to him, he can only learn by having the experience of playing week in or week out.

I would argue that J Mailey is a better player than McElwee, Foy or Redmond for that matter, probably as good as anybody we have at the club and he couldve easily played right back, right midfield or centre mid. Thats my opinion and I could be accussed of being biased once more but I have spoken to a few people who would agree that he had/has the potential to play at a much higher level than League of Ireland 1st division. If he really pushed himself he could be a class act, he has to get finger out too if he wants it. He would easliy be our right back now if we hadnt of changed managers earlier in the year (even though It probably was time for James too go). I do know that a few other clubs were certainly very impressed with him when he played for the A team so I wouldnt rule out a move in the future for him.

Blaine is a player I like and has bags of pace and thats always any team/defence hate. He could develop into a fine player but he can only develop if he plays regularly.

Why did Paddy Foy leave the club? Why did Raymond Foy leave the club? I would say we have 1 common denominator: Felix

If Im wrong I will hold my hands up & you can shoot me. Over and out.

[Mr DJ]

You must not have watched any A league games or friendlies etc.

Redmond has surprised me, I didnt think he was ready for it and Im still not saying that he is but fair play to him, he can only learn by having the experience of playing week in or week out.

I would argue that J Mailey is a better player than McElwee, Foy or Redmond for that matter, probably as good as anybody we have at the club and he couldve easily played right back, right midfield or centre mid. Thats my opinion and I could be accussed of being biased once more but I have spoken to a few people who would agree that he had/has the potential to play at a much higher level than League of Ireland 1st division. If he really pushed himself he could be a class act, he has to get finger out too if he wants it. He would easliy be our right back now if we hadnt of changed managers earlier in the year (even though It probably was time for James too go). I do know that a few other clubs were certainly very impressed with him when he played for the A team so I wouldnt rule out a move in the future for him.

Blaine is a player I like and has bags of pace and thats always any team/defence hate. He could develop into a fine player but he can only develop if he plays regularly.

Why did Paddy Foy leave the club? Why did Raymond Foy leave the club? I would say we have 1 common denominator: Felix

If Im wrong I will hold my hands up & you can shoot me. Over and out.

I've no interest in shooting you, we've little enough fans left! I've laready said I haven't watched any A league games but I did watch some of the friendlies. There were clear issues with Paddy Foy long before Felix arrived, I'm not going into it on a public forum but I'm sure you are well aware yourself anyway. I think I can cite the travelling arrangements to the match where himself and McQ were in charge as an example.
Attitude is a huge thing for young players and a youngster with less talent and the right attitude , John O' Shea or Roy Keane, for examples, can go on to have careers which surpass much more naturally talented players.
sometimes good players do leave clubs, McLaughlin left Harps for Derry last season , Leeds once let a young Dennis Irwin go on a free transfer, Cesc Fabregas and Nasri have just left Arsenal. That's football. I expect Felix and Pizza to have a squad worthy of challenging for the 1st Division title next year, and that's a damn difficult job form where we are now, let's give them our support.

[cestlavie]

Good point, yes you do see players leave 1 club sometimes let go by a club and they end up coming back to haunt them. We all have different views on what a good or bad player is, we all look for different things. All that I ask Is that any players we take in epecially to the under 19 set up that they will get a fair crack of the whip. Dont put our local talent to waist.

FYI: I wish the bucks from Sligo all the best, Its not an issue about where they come from Its just will they add to the squad long term. Thats All.

[Mr A]

While there are players that have left the club that I'd be a bit disappointed about (Foy especially) we have a pretty good record of giving youth a go compared to a lot of clubs. Not every player will get a chance- it's just not feasible, there are only eleven starting places. If anything at times I think it has proved a bit too easy to get into the senior game with us and some players have a tendency to go backwards once they think they've made it. There will always be unhappy players- but sometimes I don't think people realise what a step up the LOI actually is. We've seen plenty of USL stars do feck all in the senior game.

Also, having Felix in charge is always likely to prove to be somewhat controversial at times. He isn't afraid to give blunt opinions and rub people up the wrong way- like when he departed last time or when he commented about payments in the USL. But his record of improving the sides he's in charge of is very good and that's why he's there.

[cestlavie]

Aye, nobody wants players to have it too easy and perhaps at times people got on that were nowhere near the required standard. We dont want willy nilly appearances. I just feel that Felix has helped a few of these bucks move on and I feel they couldve had a big part to play in the future of the club.

[nigel-harps1954]

I think I can cite the travelling arrangements to the match where himself and McQ were in charge as an example.


I may be wrong, but I believe the club sort out travel arrangements?

[colinf]

3 of them came from Sligo Rovers, the other from Galway United.
They also came from Sligo A League, they most certainly lumped the ball when I saw them the past 3 seasons



The comments have all been about the game.



The management team is doing a fine job, we're improving all the time, there is no problemo there.
I have yet to see any side get promoted from this sh!t hole of a division playing attractive (bar UCD in '09), I dont care if we are a team of hoof merchants as long as we get results.

Are you suggesting that these Sligo lads are the key to getting us promoted? Sorry but that's waaayyyy off.

Rovers A team certainly didnt lump the ball this season, having finished a whole 8 points ahead of finn harps

[Sam_Heggy]

Redmond had been completely overlooked. .

Marty only signed 1st July 2011.

[Sam_Heggy]

Rovers A team certainly didnt lump the ball this season, having finished a whole 8 points ahead of finn harps

In Sligo ye did. It certainly wasn't the flowing football yer 1st team play.

[colinf]

bad day at the office that day alright.

has devaney inpressed more than anyone up there? played all 3 games, all 90 minutes hasnt he?

[Adrianf]

Out of the 3 sligo lads, I'd probably rate Devaney the highest. Scored a great goal on his debut and worked hard and thought he had a good game in Athlone. Would still rather Chief in there though :)

[harps1954]

bad day at the office that day alright.

has devaney inpressed more than anyone up there? played all 3 games, all 90 minutes hasnt he?

Devaney certainly looks the best of the three Sligo guys alright. He has started all three games, but was substituted in the Mervue and Athlone games.

[Red Alert]

He looks the best because he has had more match time, O Mahoney in a under age international and Mcgoldrick scored 30 puls goals last year for the u18s, the A team, and the first team. Give them a chance;

[nigel-harps1954]

Devaney is yellow as feck. O'Mahoney just looks clumsy and too small although I haven't seen much of him yet, McGoldrick just hasn't put in the effort, is too light, shaked off the ball easy, and I can't see where this glowing reference comes from. He may have scored loads of goals at A level and u-18 level, but we all know the step up to senior football is a different story altogether, as we have seen at Harps, only in the last few years players that shined at A level like Moran, McMenamin et all just didnt cut it at senior level.