Hegarty unsure of Harps' title chances
Credit:
Finn Harps manager Paul Hegarty has admitted that he is unsure whether his squad is capable of leading the club back up to the Premier Division at the first time of asking.
Relegated from the top flight last season, the Donegal side opened up their First Division campaign with a one all draw away to Kildare County on Saturday night. Speaking to Extratime.ie after the game, Hegarty said: "Do we have a squad that is good enough to challenge for promotion? I don't know the answer right now. I think we'll only be able to tell that after seven or eight games. It depends on how the young players adapt and how they react to setbacks along the way."
Hegarty's side required a late equaliser to secure a point from the game, with on-loan David McDaid's 84th minute strike cancelling out David O'Riordan's opener. "If we'd taken our chances then we would have won the game. I thought we created the better chances on the night and should have gone in two or three goals up at half time. But, I suppose when you go a goal down like that a point is not a bad result," Hegarty added.
"Their goal did take a deflection, but I thought we could have defended it a little better to be honest. But they started the second half better than us and we didn't really get to grips with the game at all immediately after the break. But we kept at it and their 'keeper has made an absolute wonder save late on to earn them a point. We also had two or three other chances where we should have scored."
The game was played out in atrocious conditions with strong winds and driving rain preventing either side from getting into any real rhythm. Nevertheless, Hegarty was full of praise for his young side. He said: "Yes it was very windy out there, but it was the same for both teams. I felt overall that we played some good stuff at times and it was a young bunch of boys that we had out there and some of them did very well."
Harps brought in a number of new players during the close season, including McDaid and Ruairi Harkin on-loan from Derry City, Ian Rossiter from Athlone Town and Ciaron Coll from SPL outfit Hearts. While Hegarty remains relatively pleased with his transfer dealings, he remains concerned about the young age and inexperience of some of his squad. He said: "We haven't ended up too badly, but I still think we could do with two or three players in the squad with a bit more experience. Unfortunately we just can't get them in at the minute. That's not just down to money, but also because the types of player that we need just aren't around at the moment. We've got a very small budget this year, but we just have to get on with it."
Harps welcome Longford Town to Finn Park on Friday night, who also had to make do with a point in their opening game of the season after throwing away a three nil advantage against Monaghan United on Saturday night. Looking ahead to that game, Hegarty said: "It'll be a very tough game as they're a very experienced side. They scored three tonight so they've clearly got goals in them, and we'll have to be at our best to get anything out of the match."
Relegated from the top flight last season, the Donegal side opened up their First Division campaign with a one all draw away to Kildare County on Saturday night. Speaking to Extratime.ie after the game, Hegarty said: "Do we have a squad that is good enough to challenge for promotion? I don't know the answer right now. I think we'll only be able to tell that after seven or eight games. It depends on how the young players adapt and how they react to setbacks along the way."
Hegarty's side required a late equaliser to secure a point from the game, with on-loan David McDaid's 84th minute strike cancelling out David O'Riordan's opener. "If we'd taken our chances then we would have won the game. I thought we created the better chances on the night and should have gone in two or three goals up at half time. But, I suppose when you go a goal down like that a point is not a bad result," Hegarty added.
"Their goal did take a deflection, but I thought we could have defended it a little better to be honest. But they started the second half better than us and we didn't really get to grips with the game at all immediately after the break. But we kept at it and their 'keeper has made an absolute wonder save late on to earn them a point. We also had two or three other chances where we should have scored."
The game was played out in atrocious conditions with strong winds and driving rain preventing either side from getting into any real rhythm. Nevertheless, Hegarty was full of praise for his young side. He said: "Yes it was very windy out there, but it was the same for both teams. I felt overall that we played some good stuff at times and it was a young bunch of boys that we had out there and some of them did very well."
Harps brought in a number of new players during the close season, including McDaid and Ruairi Harkin on-loan from Derry City, Ian Rossiter from Athlone Town and Ciaron Coll from SPL outfit Hearts. While Hegarty remains relatively pleased with his transfer dealings, he remains concerned about the young age and inexperience of some of his squad. He said: "We haven't ended up too badly, but I still think we could do with two or three players in the squad with a bit more experience. Unfortunately we just can't get them in at the minute. That's not just down to money, but also because the types of player that we need just aren't around at the moment. We've got a very small budget this year, but we just have to get on with it."
Harps welcome Longford Town to Finn Park on Friday night, who also had to make do with a point in their opening game of the season after throwing away a three nil advantage against Monaghan United on Saturday night. Looking ahead to that game, Hegarty said: "It'll be a very tough game as they're a very experienced side. They scored three tonight so they've clearly got goals in them, and we'll have to be at our best to get anything out of the match."
