Improved display pleases Gallagher
Credit:
James Gallagher has endured a couple of tough weeks in the hot seat but
was understandably much more content after seeing his side perform
well in their 2-0 home win over Longford Town on Friday night.
It’s not unusual to see the Finn Harps manager conduct his post-match interviews in football boots, but it’s been a season-and-a-half since he donned the goalkeeping gloves, which he did on Friday night. He wasn’t the busiest, but there was a presence of experience in what still is, by and large, a young team.
“I might be stiff in the morning,” joked Gallagher on the Finn Park pitch. “I was away in Meath all week doing the A licence coaching badges and only really got 10 minutes of a run-about on Thursday night to get rid of the cobwebs. All I wanted was to stop the slide and I wanted to come in and help the lads and thankfully it worked out.
“It was a game that we probably expected to win. We’ve been talking about must-win games all season, and this was probably one of them, but we’ve got a bit of confidence ahead of the game in Salthill next week. I was hurting badly with the last couple of weeks, so it’s good to get the three points.”
Kevin McHugh, who opened the scoring and had a significant hand in the second, stressed the importance of the continuation of the work rate in the games ahead. After Salthill next weekend, Harps are then home to Monaghan United and the striker feels his form is returning after a long lay-off last season when he was a Linfield player.
“We needed to get rolling again and we want to get maximum points in the next two or three games, but we have to work as hard then as we did tonight,” McHugh said. “I was out of football for seven or eight months – the longest I’ve been out of football. I’m feeling much sharper now and hopefully I can continue that in the next series of games.”
It’s not unusual to see the Finn Harps manager conduct his post-match interviews in football boots, but it’s been a season-and-a-half since he donned the goalkeeping gloves, which he did on Friday night. He wasn’t the busiest, but there was a presence of experience in what still is, by and large, a young team.
“I might be stiff in the morning,” joked Gallagher on the Finn Park pitch. “I was away in Meath all week doing the A licence coaching badges and only really got 10 minutes of a run-about on Thursday night to get rid of the cobwebs. All I wanted was to stop the slide and I wanted to come in and help the lads and thankfully it worked out.
“It was a game that we probably expected to win. We’ve been talking about must-win games all season, and this was probably one of them, but we’ve got a bit of confidence ahead of the game in Salthill next week. I was hurting badly with the last couple of weeks, so it’s good to get the three points.”
Kevin McHugh, who opened the scoring and had a significant hand in the second, stressed the importance of the continuation of the work rate in the games ahead. After Salthill next weekend, Harps are then home to Monaghan United and the striker feels his form is returning after a long lay-off last season when he was a Linfield player.
“We needed to get rolling again and we want to get maximum points in the next two or three games, but we have to work as hard then as we did tonight,” McHugh said. “I was out of football for seven or eight months – the longest I’ve been out of football. I’m feeling much sharper now and hopefully I can continue that in the next series of games.”
