Harps on Friday

After a good start to the season I think we should be hoping to get all three points from this game. Harps have had a decent start themselves so it won't be easy and a tight game is to be expected. Harps defence is weak at the moment as they are missing a few players so Timmy and Byrne should be able to continue their excellent start to the season (3 goals in 2 games). Despite being away from home I think our midfield should be able to have the better of the game. Gethins and Breen are two players we have to watch out for from Harps- I think our defence is more than capable, however, of dealing with their threat.

I'd go with the same team that started against Bray- having King RM is the right option in this sort of game and he also gives more protection to Alan Mahon, something which Fitz wouldn't do.

I'm going for a 2-1 to us, Byrne and Purcell to continue their run.

It'll be a bloody hard game. Maybe Harps will be on a downer after the Derry game, but they should be well up for it. This'll be the kind of game they'll really be focussing on. I'd be quite happy with a point and a performance.

Breen never struck me as any use, to be honest.

(Cue him scoring the winner...)

I'd be hopeful of a win but a draw would be a pretty good result I think. I can't imagine there'd be any changes to team, maybe Derek Doyle might be fit enough for a place on the bench though.

Saw harps against Derry and pre-season v Sligo, they are not bad at all. If you get it will be a good result imo (haven't seen UCD this year, so I might be totally wrong)

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Breen never struck me as any use, to be honest.

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Haven't seen him myself, but he made the EL team of the week for his performance against Derry and Cobh's manager singled him out for causing them trouble against them.

Gethins is the real danger man though. Kenna will have to be at his very best to keep him quiet. Only concern is that he will have too much pace for our defence.

Always struck me as a Conor Sammon type player. Good reputation, but I never saw anything to justify it.

Wouldn't put too much stock in the various Teams of the Week, to be honest.

Despite the result, are we worth another two goals at Finn Park?

I think we need to be, its a solution to survival and more to just continually score. It will be a tough test. But the team should know they can raise their game and get rewarded.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Always struck me as a Conor Sammon type player. Good reputation, but I never saw anything to justify it.

Wouldn't put too much stock in the various Teams of the Week, to be honest.

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Who? Gethins? No chance, he's is a much better player than Sammon and is half his height.

We have major pace in attack, Gethins and Breen are lightening quick and Williams on the left is pretty quick too (possible he could be out injured, therefore if thats the case his replacement Brolly is as quick as Breen)
Our defence is a worry, so many injuries and now Holmes is suspended.

Looking forward to this game, is there many of ye coming up? There should be a big crowd in Finn Park, no pubs open so nought else to do really.

Is Breen the blond guy who played up front against us in the first division?

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Originally Posted by Sam_Heggy

Who? Gethins?

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Chris Breen.

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Originally Posted by Schumi

Is Breen the blond guy who played up front against us in the first division?

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Think so, yeah.

Ye played well tonight and def didn't deserve to get beat. A screamer won us the game in the end. The number 7 and 10 for ye tonight were class, no.7 in centre mid really impressed me. Bermingham at LB wasn't able to handle Breen on the left in the first half but over allif ye play like that all season I doubt if ye will struggle too much.

Bad game on a bad pitch in bad weather but you were the better teAm tonight.Very impressed with the fitness and attitude of UCD players.Your defence looks very well drilled.Cant see you going down anyway.

Thanks for the good word lads. However unless we get very lucky with injuries/suspensions I think we will go down as we have very little cover. If we somehow do manage to get our best XI on the field each time I have no doubt that we would be pushing for the top half of the table.

We controlled the end of the first half and most of the second half without ever threatning too much. Harps defended pretty well. It's a pity we took so long to get playing. Didn't really see the Harps goal as I was looking around to see if Alan Mahon came back on the pitch. Very disappointed not to take at least a point. We've let at least a couple of points slip now against Derry and Harps, it's going to be a big game against Sligo at home next week.

was bermingham the fella that broke his leg against us?

Agree with the Harps fanas alright. One screamer for them decided it; the pitch was appalling and made it very difficult to play football. To our credit, we were much better in the second half, but Harps' defending was superb and a series of half chances was all we got.

Defending and wonder strike aside though, Harps were woeful and won't be getting too far ahead of us. Playing the ball out of defence for them involved slicing into touch. They really helped us control the second half to a large extent.

That said, they had the best chance in the second half with a goal ruled out in injury time; no idea what that was for.

Bottom line - we'll play worse and win this season.

feo - Derek Doyle broke his leg against youz. Not quite back yet.

A superb strike from on-loan Shaun Williams was enough to win the points for Finn Harps in Ballybofey on Friday, but the Students will leave wondering how they didn't take at least a point after dominating the match for long spells.

On a pitch which was borderline playable, with recent rains reducing the Finn Park surface to something approaching a marsh which gave the ball minimal bounce, passing football was very difficult, and both sides struggled to adapt for much of the first period. UCD forced a couple of early corners, and while they shaded possession, Harps created the better of what chances were going. It was still from nowhere that they took the lead midway through the half though - a long throw was headed out only as far as Shaun Williams, 25 yards out, who struck a sweet volley into the top corner beyond Matt Gregg's despairing dive.

Williams nearly served up an encore ten minutes later when shooting just wide of the other post from a similar position, but at half time, it was pretty uninspiring stuff from both sides.

A trademark Pete Mahon half-time rollicking evidently ensued, as UCD were a changed outfit in the second half. From the outset, they imposed themselves far more on the game, starting to play the ball around more and, with the wind behind their backs as well, causing problems out wide for the Harps. However, Harps' defence was superb, restricting UCD to half chances. That said, there were a fair few of those - Paul Byrne headed wide on the hour, Alan McNally looped a header onto the roof of the net, Ronan Finn fired wide from 25 yards, as did Timmy Purcell when maybe the pass to Brian King on the overlap was the better choice, Paul Byrne squirmed free on the by-line but his pull back was weak and allowed James Gallagher to snuff out the danger.

Harps, for their part, were allowing UCD very little room on the ball, but when they had possession themselves, they were very ineffective, finding the roof of stand more often than not, and playing their part in a second half dominated by the visitors.

As the game wore on, Pete Mahon threw on Darren Forsyth and Shane Fitzgerald for Timmy Purcell and Ian Bermingham. Fitzgerald in particular looked lively in his first appearance of the season, immediately drawing two home players to him to cut out his threat.

Ironically, it was Harps who had the half's best chance in one of their few attacks of the period - with UCD pushing forward for an equaliser late on, gaps were left at the back, and Harps seized on one of these to send in a low cross from the left which was tucked home by Williams, but as the home crowd celebrated the insurance goal, the referee awarded a free out, presumably for an offside.

Four minutes of injury time were signalled, but the Harps defence held on in a manner of which UCD would have been proud to take the points. For UCD, it's another point at least dropped to follow on from the Derry game, but they will play worse this year and win. Three points from two away games against Bray and Harps is a respectable return, but the focus now turns to next week's crunch clash with Sligo Rovers at the UCD Bowl, which will provide a good indication of how the season ahea will pan out.

UCD - Gregg; Mahon, Bermingham (Fitzgerald 75), Shortall, Kenna; King, McNally, Finn, McWalter; Byrne, Purcell (Forsyth 70). Subs not used - Brennan, Gallagher, McMillan.

Att - c 2000

I thought UCD had a great workrate, but lacked cutting edge. Harps were poor but I thought at least 3 of our players were playing with injuries and maybe shouldn't have been on the pitch- Minnock, Shields and Ramsey. Mukendi was brilliant at the back for us, superb performance, and for all UCD's possession (and our crazily deep defending) we probably had more chances over the 90 minutes. I wouldn't read too much into the game for either side due to the conditions to be honest, and the goal that won it was a screamer.

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Originally Posted by Sam_Heggy

... A screamer won us the game in the end...

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Agree with the Harps fanas alright. One screamer for them decided it;

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Originally Posted by Mr A

.... and the goal that won it was a screamer.

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Wish this was still missing!

http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~cema/...unchScream.jpg