Gallagher rues narrow Cup defeat
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Finn Harps boss James Gallagher was left to rue the “kick of a ball” as his side were knocked out of the FAI Senior Cup at the hands of northwest rivals Sligo Rovers on Friday night last.
Gallagher’s men relinquished an early one-goal lead as Alan Keane converted from the penalty spot following a foul from Packie Mailey on Matthew Blinkhorn. Disappointingly, Harps didn’t have the same sort of luck at the same end in the second half when Kevin McHugh appeared to be pulled back when charging through on goal, but the referee refrained from handing Harps the chance to restore parity.
“I think it was a bit iffy whether it was a penalty or not; he (the ref) then had a chance to make amends for it when we had a penalty shout of our own with Kevin being dragged down. He didn’t give it and a kick of the ball is all that won the game for Sligo. But I think our boys need to be very proud of themselves, especially with the second half display,” said the Harps manager after the game.
He added: “When you look at it, in particular the second half, I think we were the better side. I think we outplayed Sligo for large parts of the second half but we got caught a wee bit for the goal.”
Gallagher admitted his side were a little hesitant in their start, not knowing what really to expect from Sligo, but felt once his team settled, they were more than a match for the Bit O’ Red.
“When you’re dealing with the inexperienced squad that we have, there will be that little bit of apprehension before the game. They are obviously playing at a higher level and you probably do wonder how good they are.
“But once we realised that they are only human like ourselves – it took us maybe twenty minutes to settle – we changed our formation a little, and we began to settle down. We got to grips with it and I thought we performed quite well for the remainder of the game.”
The manager dismissed the build-up to the game, where Jonathan Minnock and Michael Fusnton were both told they were free to leave the club, had a detrimental effect on his side’s preparations.
“The mood was fine, especially among the players. It wasn’t difficult to prepare. The decision was made last week; I’ve moved on, the players have moved on, the club have moved on. I think everybody needs to do that,” he said.
“We’re bitterly disappointed that we aren’t still in the cup, well at least not taking it to a replay. Regarding the league, we set a wee bit of a standard for ourselves tonight, not too many times this year have we followed it up but we’ll be looking to do that down in Monaghan this weekend.”
Meanwhile, Gallagher was hopeful second half replacement Chris Breen didn’t suffer a dislocated shoulder, after the forward went to ground very heavily late in the second half, having only been sprung from the bench moments beforehand.
“It could be a dislocated shoulder, hopefully it’s not. He was definitely in a bit of pain – he was holding it coming off. I suppose when anybody gets a shoulder injury the first thing you think of is a dislocation, but it could be ligaments as well. It’s disappointing because he’s been a great threat for us recently, a great impact sub, but he just didn’t get a chance to show that against Sligo.”
Gallagher’s men relinquished an early one-goal lead as Alan Keane converted from the penalty spot following a foul from Packie Mailey on Matthew Blinkhorn. Disappointingly, Harps didn’t have the same sort of luck at the same end in the second half when Kevin McHugh appeared to be pulled back when charging through on goal, but the referee refrained from handing Harps the chance to restore parity.
“I think it was a bit iffy whether it was a penalty or not; he (the ref) then had a chance to make amends for it when we had a penalty shout of our own with Kevin being dragged down. He didn’t give it and a kick of the ball is all that won the game for Sligo. But I think our boys need to be very proud of themselves, especially with the second half display,” said the Harps manager after the game.
He added: “When you look at it, in particular the second half, I think we were the better side. I think we outplayed Sligo for large parts of the second half but we got caught a wee bit for the goal.”
Gallagher admitted his side were a little hesitant in their start, not knowing what really to expect from Sligo, but felt once his team settled, they were more than a match for the Bit O’ Red.
“When you’re dealing with the inexperienced squad that we have, there will be that little bit of apprehension before the game. They are obviously playing at a higher level and you probably do wonder how good they are.
“But once we realised that they are only human like ourselves – it took us maybe twenty minutes to settle – we changed our formation a little, and we began to settle down. We got to grips with it and I thought we performed quite well for the remainder of the game.”
The manager dismissed the build-up to the game, where Jonathan Minnock and Michael Fusnton were both told they were free to leave the club, had a detrimental effect on his side’s preparations.
“The mood was fine, especially among the players. It wasn’t difficult to prepare. The decision was made last week; I’ve moved on, the players have moved on, the club have moved on. I think everybody needs to do that,” he said.
“We’re bitterly disappointed that we aren’t still in the cup, well at least not taking it to a replay. Regarding the league, we set a wee bit of a standard for ourselves tonight, not too many times this year have we followed it up but we’ll be looking to do that down in Monaghan this weekend.”
Meanwhile, Gallagher was hopeful second half replacement Chris Breen didn’t suffer a dislocated shoulder, after the forward went to ground very heavily late in the second half, having only been sprung from the bench moments beforehand.
“It could be a dislocated shoulder, hopefully it’s not. He was definitely in a bit of pain – he was holding it coming off. I suppose when anybody gets a shoulder injury the first thing you think of is a dislocation, but it could be ligaments as well. It’s disappointing because he’s been a great threat for us recently, a great impact sub, but he just didn’t get a chance to show that against Sligo.”
