Preview: Athlone Town vs Finn Harps

• Simon Carter
• Thu, Jun 05 2008




Finn Harps may have entered the two week Premier League break on a downer last weekend having lost games against Derry City and UCD, but they have a chance to give themselves a lift again on Friday when they entertain Athlone Town at Lissywollen in the third round of the FAI Cup (kick-off 7.45pm).

Harps will still be without the services of Jonathan Minnock, Gary Beckett, Cornelius Gallagher and Aaron Labonte for the trip to the midlands. Shaun Holmes is likely to miss out again while there are doubts over the fitness of centre-half Stuart Malcolm.

Paul Hegarty said he is looking to progress in the Cup. "It doesn't matter what competition you play in, you want to win and you want to do well.

"Last weekend we let ourselves down badly against UCD," commented Hegarty on the 1-0 Belfield reversal. "That's something we want to put behind us when we play Athlone. For three or four games before the UCD game, we played pretty well and might have deserved a little more than we actually got. We want to get back to a bit of form against Athlone before the mid-season break kicks-in."

While Harps are having their own troubles at the bottom end of the top flight, Athlone are sitting rock bottom of the First Division having picked up just one victory in their fourteen matches so far. That single victory came at the start of April in a 2-1 victory at Monaghan United.

Manager Dermot Lennon will be watching from the stands as he starts a 4 match ban for a sending off against Kildare last month, but on a positive note for the first time this season he has a full squad available for selection although leaving cert students Ian Coffey, Craig Tone and reserve goalkeeper Lee Gaffey may be rested due to exam commitments.

Tomorrow's match will be the ninth meeting of the two sides in the Cup. The previous meeting between the two sides was the last ever FAI Cup game at Athlone's old St. Mel's Park home, while this week's game will be the first ever FAI Cup game at their new Lissywollen stadium.