League Preview: Bohemians -v- Finn Harps

Bohemians welcome Finn Harps FC to Dalymount Park in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division at 7.45 p.m. on this Friday, August 5th 2016.

 

In ninth place, Bohs lie a single point behind Harps and will be keen to atone for recent successive league reverses against Shamrock Rovers and to Derry City by a single goal at Dalymount in their last home match. The home side haven’t won a league game since July 2nd when they overcame Longford Town 1-0 at the City Calling Stadium. Last week’s match was postponed due to Dundalk’s continued Champions League heroics.

 

Bohs will be missing Ayman Ben Mohamed, who has moved on to L’Espérance Sportive de Tunis. Veteran defender Dave Mulcahy will not be available either, having switched back to Cork City.

 

Bohs manager Keith Long maintains there is enough quality in the squad to step up and fill the void left by departures, suspensions and injury.  "We are expected to win at home to Finn Harps. They are above us in the table, but a win would see us leapfrog them. To do that, we need to work hard to stamp our authority on the game," Long told bohemians.com.

 

"We have some good, quality players in this squad but they have to go out and show it. We've lost two players, we have two players suspended and we still have others coming back from injury. But that creates an opportunity for others to go out, put the jersey on and make it their own."

 

Dylan Hayes (ankle) remains out. But there was better news elsewhere as Lorcan Fitzgerald (ankle) came through a full 90 minutes in last week's 3-0 friendly win against St Mochta's, while Stephen Best (knee) returned to training after nearly a month out.

 

One player who has put himself in contention is Marco Chindea. The striker signed from Athlone last month, made his debut from the bench against Derry and scored in the friendly against St Mochta's.

 

Long added: "Marco's looked really good in training. He's scored goals for Athlone in the First Division so obviously this is a bit of a step up. But he's got technical ability, took his goal against St Mochta's very well and he's given us something to think about."

 

Harps arrive in the capital on the back of successive defeats, having lost to a rejuvenated Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle Grounds and having suffered a surprise loss to Wexford Youths in Ballybofey last week.

 

Manager Ollie Horgan and his assistant Paul Hegarty faced a big challenge this week to get the Finn Harps players over the very disappointing Wexford Youths defeat. And there is the added blow of being without dependable defender Damian McNulty for up to eight weeks due a knee medial ligament injury suffered in that Finn Park encounter.

 

It appears that Tony McNamee, who was a sub against Youths, could be fit enough to start in the event that Harps decide to make personnel changes.

 

Speaking to finnharps.com ahead of the game, Ollie Horgan gave the following assessment, “Obviously Bohemians away is a very difficult fixture for any team in the league and even more so for us. They have some very talented and experienced players and physically are very strong thrown on top of that. They should have beaten us in Ballybofey where they missed a penalty in the last minute of injury-time.”

 

Ethan Boyle replaced Damien McNulty early in the Wexford Youths game but Josh Mailey could also be an option for right-back if he were to recover from a hamstring strain. With Rory Keating a doubt, Dave Scully and Kevin McHugh are options up front. Scully did not feature against the Youths while a late corner from sub McHugh almost earned Harps a share of the spoils.

 

Referee: Sean Grant.

 

 

The sides played out a 0-0 draw at Finn Park Ballybofey on May 6th, when Ciaran Gallagher saved an injury time Anto Murphy penalty to preserve a point for the home side.

 

Recent league action between Bohs and Harps has been scarce with the clubs mostly occupying different divisions. The last two Dalymount Park encounters (both in the 2008 season) resulted in 3-0 Bohs’ victories. A repeat this time would suit the Phibsboro outfit as they seek to move further away from the relegation zone.

 

All-time, there have been 71 games between the two clubs. 33 of those have been played at Dalymount Park. 

 

Harps wins:19 (8 at Dalymount Park).

Bohemians wins: 39 (26 at Dalymount Park).

Draws:13 (4 at Dalymount Park).

Harps goals:73 (34 at Dalymount Park).

Bohemians goals: 125 (84 at Dalymount Park).

 

 

Bohemians 10/13; Draw 11/4; Finn Harps 22/5.

 

 

Bohemians 1 – 0 Finn Harps.

 

 

Injured: Dylan Hayes.

Doubtful: Lorcan Fitzgerald and Stephen Best.

Suspended: Keith Buckley and Dan Byrne.

 

Injured: Gareth Harkin and Damien McNulty.

Doubtful: Josh Mailey, Sean Houston and Rory Keating.

Suspended: None.