League Report: Finn Harps 1 - 0 Longford Town

Finn Harps won their second game of the season on Saturday night to make it two home wins in three attempts as a Ryan Curran penalty early in the second half saw Ollie Horgan’s men pick up all three points.

Harps Manager Ollie Horgan made eight changes from the team that scraped a win in midweek against Cockhill Celtic in the EA Sports League Cup while five changes were made by Tony Cousins after their 3-1 defeat to Bohemians.

Longford were looking to bounce back from consecutive defeats, conceding 9 goals in the process, and Tony Cousins’ men started well with Josh O'Hanlon creating the first notable opportunity of the match in the 8th minute but Richard Brush got down well to save.

Harps created their first chance a few minutes later with Ryan Curran having a shot cleared off the line by Jamie Mulhall.

Both sides defended well in the opening half an hour while the Harps crowd continued to find their voice despite the apparent lack of entertainment that was taking place on the pitch.

The home side continued to close down late in the first half, which hyped up the crowd and saw a corner delivered in Adam Hanlon well saved by Paul Skinner.

The second half begun as the first had ended – with Harps creating the better of the chances and controlling the possession statistics.

David Scully scored last week but this time when the ball was delivered over the top to him, his height let him down as he failed to make a connection at the back post.

With Harps still creating chances, Longford’s defence was continually having to withstand long barrages from the home side’s attackers. Adam Hanlon was causing much of these problems but a high shot relieved some pressure for Skinner in the away goal.

With the Home side winning a few throw-ins in the attacking half, they took a page out of Rory Delap's book with the odd throw long and straight into the box, however it came to nothing.

In the 57th minute Ethan Boyle's mazy run into the box saw him fouled by Daniel O'Reilly and Referee Derek Towney deemed it to be a penalty. Ryan Curran stepped up and hit the penalty straight down the middle to put the Donegal side 1-0 up.

Harps seemed to take their foot off the peddle after taking the lead and Longford's attack was creating a few chances looking for an equalizer. However David Scully continued to look lively and looked to be through on goal shortly after the hour mark but he was flagged offside. 

Peter McGlynn was then forced off due to injury mid-way through the half and was replaced by Karl Chambers.

With just under 20 minutes left Josh O'Hanlon created another chance with a low cross into the box but he could not get the ball past Brush.

Harps made their first change of the game moments later as Kevin McHugh replaced the lively David Scully. McHugh was involved in the action straight away, a cross into the box was headed straight for Curran at the back post but a slight deflection just took it away from Curran who was looking for his second of the match.

Longford did create chance late on by Harps held on to win the matcn 1-0.

Finn Harps: Richard Brush; Ethan Boyle, Ciaran Coll, Gareth Harkin, Keith Cowan; Damien McNulty, Packie Mailey, David Scully(Kevin McHugh 73), Adam Hanlon; Tony McNamee(Raymond Foy 77), Ryan Curran(Michael Funston 85).

Subs not used: Ciaran Gallagher(gk) Tommy McMonagle, Liam Flatley, Ryan McConnell

Booked: None.

Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Jamie Mulhall, Josh O'Hanlon, Noel Haverty, Daniel O'Reilly; Mark Hughes, Kealon Dillon(John McKeown 80), Peter MCGlynn(Karl Chambers 68), David O'Sullivan; Kaleem Simon, Phillip Gannon.

Subs not used: Ian Molloy(gk) Tristan Naock Hofman, Keith Bernie, Cian Fay, Ciaran McGuinness.

Booked: David O'Sullivan(22) 

Referee: Derek Towney

Attendance: 739

ExtraTime.ie Man Of The Match: Adam Hanlon (Finn Harps)