League Preview: Finn Harps -v- Derry City

Finn Harps

Finn Harps entertain Northwest rivals Derry City in Finn Park on Saturday evening (kick-off 5pm).

Ollie Horgan’s outfit conceded a late equaliser at the same venue last week in a topsy turvy two all draw with Drogheda United- an early concession to James Clarke was cancelled by strikes from Eric McWoods and Yoyo Mahdy to give the Harps a slender lead at the break, However, despite holding onto the lead for 40 minutes in the second half, sub Ryan Brennan claimed a share of the spoils for the Louth men.

That result leaves Harps with a single league victory to their name- a three nil victory away to Shelbourne- and currently battling with UCD at the foot of the table. However, their cause will be helped this weekend by the return of inspirational goalkeeper Mark Anthony McGinley from suspension while defensive trio Rob Slevin, Dave Webster and Rob Slevin remain doubts.

Manager Ollie Horgan, speaking to club media ahead of the game, was looking forward to the clash. 

"It’ll be a huge occasion. I think if you look at the last couple of seasons, we had bridged the gap that had been there before and were able to give every bit as good as we got. I think if we’re being honest, when you look at the quality Ruaidhri and his staff have brought in that gap has probably appeared once again and we’ll be up against it on Saturday night.

We’ll do as we always have. We’ll prepare as best we can and go out there and take a cut off it and see where it takes us. The fans to their credit have been excellent so far this season and with them behind us tomorrow it might give us that bit of lift to level the playing field"

Derry City

At the opposite end of the table lie Derry City. The Candystripes remain unbeaten in the league so far and can go six points clear of Shamrock Rovers at the summit if they pick up a Finn Park victory.

After picking up a win and two draws in their opening three games, Ruadhrai Higgins’ side are on a five game winning streak and have displayed a gritty resolve to extract three points from games thanks to late winners- most recently last Friday when James Akintunde knocked in the winner against Bohemians.

With four goals apiece shared by Will Patching and Jamie McGonigle and a couple in successive weeks from defender Ronan Boyce, Derry have goal threats throughout the pitch. While at the back, they’ve only conceded twice in their past six games and Republic of Ireland Under 21 international keeper Brian Maher has recorded four clean sheets in this period.

Injuries to key players including Michael Duffy and Ciaron Harkin have yet to derail City’s title push, however at the end of the first series of games- irrespective of tonight’s result- they remain the team to catch.

Speaking to his club media ahead of the derby encounter, Ruadhrai Higgins was effusive in his praise for opposite number Ollie Horgan. 

"Ollie’s a brilliant manager who works extremely hard and he will have his team well prepared for the game. Finn Harps have improved massively under him over the years.”

“He’s playing it down, but there’s not a chance he doesn’t believe they can beat us in Ballybofey- of course he believes they can. We’re not getting carried away with ourselves. We’re 8 games into a 36 game season but we’ve made a good start and we’re keen to keep going.”

“There’s an extra edge because it’s a derby but we’ve prepared the same way we do for every game. We’ll go there and try to be professional as we always do, and look to send our fans home happy."

Referee: John McLoughlin

MATCH STATS

Derry City have 6 different league goalscorers this season- Will Patching and Jamie McGonigle lie one behind Sligo’s Aidan Keena (5) at the top of the goalscoring charts. 

Finn Harps also have had six different players find the net this season, however Eric McWoods is the only one to do it more than once- scoring against both Shelbourne and Drogheda United.

The four games between the sides last season saw both teams record a win and the other two games were draws. The final encounter between the two saw a brace of goals in the final ten minutes with Ethan Boyle heading the Harps into the lead before conceding a penalty converted by Jamie McGonigle a few minutes later.

PREDICTION

Finn Harps 1–3 Derry City

Finn Harps

Injured: None.

Doubtful: Regan Donelon, Rob Slevin, Dave Webster

Suspended: None.

Derry City

Injured: Michael Duffy, Ciaron Harkin

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.