Healy pleased with Harps winning form
Credit:
Finn Harps Director of Football Felix Healy acknowledged that his side weren’t at their best against Mervue United on Saturday night but was naturally pleased to see that his players were starting to get the results he feels they deserve.
It was the second straight win for Harps, who went in at the mid-season break on the back of a 2-0 win away to Wexford, and Healy recognised the slight upturn in fortunes in recent weeks.
He said: “The guys that have been here for the last few months, to be honest, we haven’t had the results we’ve deserved. We’ve actually played a lot better than what we did tonight against Mervue and got beat by the odd goal, but sometimes that’s football.
“Everybody knows the system but basically that is the first time tonight that our back four has played as a back four. It was a completely different team from Wexford, in terms of the way it was set up.”
Healy and manager Peter Hutton included three new signings from the start against Mervue, with Gary Curran coming into the middle of the park, goalscorer Kevin Devaney taking up position on the right flank and Mark McGoldrick partnering Kevin McHugh up front.
Healy admitted he could have just as easily started Blaine Curtis and Stephen O’Donnell, but wanted to get his new recruits some game-time under their belts.
“I’m happy with the three points and another clean-sheet,” Healy said. “On another night we could’ve conceded a few. Tonight we were disjointed because of the new players that came in, but that’s always the risk that you take.
“There is one or two guys that need games and the first half we didn’t really function at all. In the second half when we got the goal it settled us and we were better after that.
“They were always going to be difficult to play against, they’re a very big side and rely a lot on set-pieces and that’s where it can be very hard to play against. We found that against Wexford as well, they were very, very direct.
“It’s one of things about this league; the ball goes from one end of the pitch very quickly and it’s all about winning your headers and stuff like that and maybe not so much about football.”
Meanwhile, Healy recognised the magnificent contribution his captain, Kevin McHugh, has made for Harps down through the years and is hoping the striker has a good few more years left in the tank. “It would have been nice too for Kevin McHugh to score on his 300th appearance but it wasn’t to be, he had a few chances though. It’s a fantastic achievement. I mean Kevin has been a fantastic servant for Finn Harps for many, many years and long may it continue,” said Healy who is looking forward to the challenge of promotion-chasing Limerick at Finn Park next Saturday.
He added: “It will be a tough game. They are obviously envisaging themselves as being in the Premier Division next year but we’ll look forward to it now this week.”
It was the second straight win for Harps, who went in at the mid-season break on the back of a 2-0 win away to Wexford, and Healy recognised the slight upturn in fortunes in recent weeks.
He said: “The guys that have been here for the last few months, to be honest, we haven’t had the results we’ve deserved. We’ve actually played a lot better than what we did tonight against Mervue and got beat by the odd goal, but sometimes that’s football.
“Everybody knows the system but basically that is the first time tonight that our back four has played as a back four. It was a completely different team from Wexford, in terms of the way it was set up.”
Healy and manager Peter Hutton included three new signings from the start against Mervue, with Gary Curran coming into the middle of the park, goalscorer Kevin Devaney taking up position on the right flank and Mark McGoldrick partnering Kevin McHugh up front.
Healy admitted he could have just as easily started Blaine Curtis and Stephen O’Donnell, but wanted to get his new recruits some game-time under their belts.
“I’m happy with the three points and another clean-sheet,” Healy said. “On another night we could’ve conceded a few. Tonight we were disjointed because of the new players that came in, but that’s always the risk that you take.
“There is one or two guys that need games and the first half we didn’t really function at all. In the second half when we got the goal it settled us and we were better after that.
“They were always going to be difficult to play against, they’re a very big side and rely a lot on set-pieces and that’s where it can be very hard to play against. We found that against Wexford as well, they were very, very direct.
“It’s one of things about this league; the ball goes from one end of the pitch very quickly and it’s all about winning your headers and stuff like that and maybe not so much about football.”
Meanwhile, Healy recognised the magnificent contribution his captain, Kevin McHugh, has made for Harps down through the years and is hoping the striker has a good few more years left in the tank. “It would have been nice too for Kevin McHugh to score on his 300th appearance but it wasn’t to be, he had a few chances though. It’s a fantastic achievement. I mean Kevin has been a fantastic servant for Finn Harps for many, many years and long may it continue,” said Healy who is looking forward to the challenge of promotion-chasing Limerick at Finn Park next Saturday.
He added: “It will be a tough game. They are obviously envisaging themselves as being in the Premier Division next year but we’ll look forward to it now this week.”
