Tunde Owolabi proud of his hattrick for Harps at Finn Park

Tunde Owolabi with match ball after his hattrick for Harps

Tunde Owolabi with match ball after his hattrick for Harps Credit: Clare McCahill (ETPhotos)

Stuart Connolly reports from Ballybofey 

For the first time this season, Finn Harps have won three league games in a row with Tunde Owolabi scoring three-in-a-row in the game as the hattrick match winner for Harps against St. Patrick's Athletic.

Harps’ zenith prior to this was the opening weeks of the season when they beat Bohemians and Dundalk in their first two fixtures.

This recent run has breathed new life into their challenge to avoid the dreaded relegation play-off, with the club now sitting in seventh spot, albeit the number of games played by the surrounding teams does vary slightly. 

Friday night's triumph over St. Patrick's Athletic now has Harps on 29 points and Man of the Match Tunde Owolabi noted that the result was massive. 

"We've been playing well, we've won three in a row and we knew with the fans behind us, we could put in a good performance and thankfully we got all three points," he said.

While these last three games have established a new air of confidence and spark among the group, Owolabi noted that in the games prior to their current run, things were quite difficult. 

"When things weren't going well, we just had to keep working and keep believing. 

"When you are not winning games and losing, it is hard to pick yourself up and go again but in football, things change.



"Thankfully, I was able to score three today and I am proud of myself and the team because I wouldn't have done it without them."

The former Hamilton Academical striker definitely took his goals clinically but there were question marks raised over his third strike, with St. Pat's adamant that he was clearly offside, something the Harps man didn't deny.

"Was I offside?” he laughed. 

"At the end of the day, they always say you have to play to the whistle and I thought I pushed it too wide but thankfully I was able to squeeze it back in," he said on beating Liverpool loanee Vitezslav Jaros.

"Sometimes you need that little bit of luck to go in your favour. I felt in the last few weeks when we weren't winning, we were having decisions against us but that's football." 

Owolabi is the first Finn Harps player to score a hat-trick at Finn Park since Davitt Walsh struck gold against Monaghan United in 2006.



“At the end of the day, I’m not really thinking about that,” he stated.

“I’m just thinking about the present right now and trying to help the team get as many points as possible on the board.

"It is a nice feeling to know that I'm part of the records but at the end of the day, I'm happy we were able to get the three points." 

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