Harps U20 Get Off The Mark

October 12, 2008

FINN HARPS      0
DERRY CITY      0

FINN Harps picked up their first point in this year's U20 League when they shared a scoreless draw with Derry City at the Curragh Athletic grounds on Saturday afternoon.

Harps boss Sean 'Wizard' McGowan made two changes to the team who lost 1-0 to Salthill a week earlier. Central defender Darren McGowan was suspended, his place was taken by Johnny Havlin, while Irish U17 'keeper Ciaran Gallagher came in for Colm Kelly.

"Colm got injured at training on Monday but I was always going to give Ciaran a game once his commitments with the Irish U17 team were over. He played three games for them in Luxembourg last week and that will have done him the world of good. It was also encouraging to see both Havlin and Ryan McCullagh get 90 minutes under their belts as they haven't played too much football this season," he said.

Paying tribute to Curragh Athletic for giving Harps the use of their excellent facilities, McGowan also paid tribute to Eddie Seydak, John Quigg and Paddy Slevin for the way they prepared the Derry team.

"We were excellent throughout the first half but they probably deserved to win the game. Our second half performance was the worst we have played all season but that's down to the fact that we've played so many games over the past few weeks. It's ironic. We were poor on Saturday afternoon and yet came away with a draw and a point but I suppose that's football," he mused.

Harps created the better chances early on with Oisin McMenamin seeing one effort cleared off the line but they were unable to sustain the pace and with Ruairi Higgins pulling the strings in the middle of the park for Derry it was the visitors who enjoyed the majority of possession after the break.

"Ciaran (Gallagher) made one brilliant save to keep us in the game and we were more than happy to come away with a share of the points," he said.

Next up for Harps is a home game against Drogheda United in the A Championship next weekend.

Harps: Ciaran Gallagher, David Gethins, Johnny Havlin, Darren O'Leary, Declan McGarvey, Christy Connaghan, Patrick Bonner, Mark Forker, Mark Moran, Ryan McCullagh, Oisin McMenamin. Sub: Barry Tourish for Moran (65 mins).