League Report: Finn Harps 0 - 1 Wexford Youths

 

Finn Harps have now suffered two defeats on the bounce for the first time in two months. The win moves Shane Keegan's side to within two points of tenth placed Bray Wanderers, while Finn Harps remain in eighth.

 

Harps boss Ollie Horgan made four changes to the starting line-up which lost their last fixture 1-0 away to Bray on July 16th. Ciaran Coll returned from injury while Raymond Foy, Ruairi Keating and Ryan Curran were also re-introduced to the starting XI.

 

Youths boss Keegan made two changes to his starting line-up as he looked stop the rot after six consecutive defeats. Gary Delaney and Andy Mulligan came into the side after their 4-2 away defeat against Galway United in their last outing.

 

The game kicked off with a few early bad challenges but it was an unfortunate collsion between Danny Ledwith and Damien McNulty which forced both players off the pitch after just seven minutes of play. They were replaced by Aidan Friel and Ethan Boyle respectively. 

 

The teams were fairly well matched midway through the first-half, both pressing well with a defensive display to match.

 

Wexford applied the pressure just as the half-hour mark approached and Johnny Bonner struck a fierce shot from about 30 yards, but it wasn't enough to worry Richard Brush in the home goal. As the game approached half-time, Brush was definitely the busier of the two keepers.

 

Danny Furlong came close to giving the away side the lead before half-time but Keith Cowan made a last ditch tackle to block the goal-bound shot. 

 

Shortly after Delaney went into the book, Ethan Boyle joined him, and from resulting free-kick, Andy Mulligan forced a good save out of Brush at his near post.

 

Ruairi Keating went into the ref's book with 20 minutes to go after a challenge on Delaney, and the yellow card did not sit well with the home support. He was shortly followed by Youths Stephen Last for a late challenge on Sean Houston.

 

Mulligan, who was putting in a man of the match performance, surprisingly came off with 15 minutes to go as he was replaced by Aidan Keenan. The game was delayed then due a pitch invader, albeit a very slow one, who looked like he had no idea where he was.

 

With ten minutes remaining, Keating had another golden opportunity to put Harps in front with Graham Doyle off his line but he scuffed his shot wide.

 

Wexford Youths took the lead with five minutes of normal time left after a powerful header from Gary Delaney, who latched onto a wonderful cross from Bonner.

 

Harps applied some late pressure and Ryan Curran had a decent effort tipped over the bar by Doyle. The last notable action of the match saw Sean Houston go into the referee's book.

 

Shane Keegan pointed out after the match that the online sites and announcer all had it wrong in saying that Keenan had scored the winner when it was infact Gary Delaney.

 

Ollie Horgan admitted after the match that Keegan's Wexford side wanted it more and that his side only really came into the match when it was too late.

 

 

Finn Harps: Richard Brush; Damien McNulty (Ethan Boyle 8), Ciaran Coll, Keith Cowan, Packie Mailey; Raymond Foy (Kevin McHugh 84), Sean Houston, Adam Hanlon (Michael Funston 72), Barry Molloy; Ruairi Keating, Ryan Curran. 

 

Subs not used: Ciaran Gallagher, Dave Scully, Tony McNamee, Tommy McMonagle.

 

Booked: Ethan Boyle (58), Ruairi Keating (69), Sean Houston (90).

 

Wexford Youths: Graham Doyle; Craig McCabe, Gary Delaney, Lee Grace, Stephen Last, Danny Ledwith (Aidan Friel 7); Andy Mulligan (Aidan Keenan 74), John Bonner (Shane Dempsey 90+2) Shane Dunne, Chris Kenny; Danny Furlong.

 

Subs not used: Conor O'Keefe, Gavin Dowling, Andrew O'Connor.

 

Booked: Gary Delaney (56), Stephen Last (72).

 

 

Referee: Ray Matthews. 

Attendance: 566.

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Andy Mulligan (Wexford Youths).