- Chris McNulty
- Tue, May 27 2008
Owen Morrison struck a deadly brace inside a three-minute spell in the final quarter of an hour to sink Finn Harps in a cracking North West derby before a crowd of 4,000 at Ballybofey tonight.
Morrison stepped up 13 minutes from the end of an absorbing contest to fire home a carbon-copy of his stunning free-kick on Friday night against UCD and then pounced three minutes later to rifle home the killer second.
It was tough justice on a Harps side who had battled well throughout and looked good value for a point until Morrison intervened and further enhance Harps' dismal derby-day record.
On the night, Harps were taught the harsh lessons of taking chances, although Paul Hegarty and company are sure to take heart from what was a spirited showing against their great foes. Having recorded their first away win of the season on Friday night last, Harps were able to field the same side, for the first time since the start of the season - ironically when the same side took to the park in successive weeks against Cobh and Derry.
That meant Gavin Cullen retained his place in goal having impressed in recent weeks while Marc Mukendi kept his spot at right-back with Stephen Parkhouse looking to continue his fine scoring spell against his former club
On the back of a 4-1 home win over UCD on Friday night, Derry City came into the game showing two changes with ex Harps star Kevin McHugh and Kevin Deery recalled to Stephen Kenny's starting eleven. As always is the case with this high-octane fixture, it was a typically fiery and passionate derby crowd that descended on Finn Park and with the crowd still streaming into the ground close to kick-off time referee Hugo Whoriskey delayed the start by five minutes.
It didn't take long for the fireworks to be set off. After Kevin Deery forced Gavin Cullen into parrying his shot from outside the box after good build-up by Morrison, McHugh and Farren, Shaun Holmes earned himself a yellow card for a late foul on Gareth McGlynn right in front of the City support. Shaun McGowan was next to be cautioned when he was penalised for a foul on Kevin Deery while half-chances for the home team saw Gethins and Williams fire wide of the mark.
At the other end, McHugh looked to have struck the first blow, but his diving header was just the wrong side of Gavin Cullen's post after he got on the end of a cross by McGlynn in a glorious position at the far post. Then, after Clive Delaney became the first City player to be entered into the referee's notebook, Stephen Parkhouse blasted over when the resultant free by Gethins wasn't dealt with by the goalkeeper.
On the stroke of half-time, the hosts received a let off as Derry squandered not one, but two chances from a teasing centre by McHugh. First up, Mark Farren just failed to get a touch while Owen Morrison raced in at the back only to lose his bearings at the vital moment. The end-to-end nature of this absorbing North West derby continued into the second half as Barry Molloy just failed to get power on his drive from 20 yards before Shaun McGowan drove wide at the other end after dispossessing Kevin Deery.
Parkhouse then watched Doherty pull off a fine save after he headed goal-ward having peeled away from his man at the back post to latch onto a cross by Williams, who combined well with Gethins in a neat counter-attack.
Derry, though, were starting to get on top of things and thirteen minutes from time they bagged the opener. Marc Mukendi was penalised for taking down Owen Morrison on the edge of the box after the midfielder weaved his way through a cluster of bodies. The former Sheffield Wednesday man stepped up to curl a delightful free-kick - his second in five days - into the bottom corner of the net. And three minutes later he blasted home a deadly second when he capitalised on Mukendi's hesitancy to fire into the roof of the net from 15 yards and send the travelling support into raptures.
Finn Harps (4-4-2): Gavin Cullen; Marc Mukendi, Declan Boyle, Stuart Malcolm, Shaun Holmes; Chris Breen (Michael Funston 71), Tony Shields (Marc Brolly 85), Shaun McGowan, Shaun Williams; Stephen Parkhouse, Conor Gethins.
Subs not used: Gerry Gill, Sean Roddy and James Gallagher.
Booked: Holmes (6), McGowan (17), Williams (52), Mukendi (75).
Derry City (4-4-2): Gerard Doherty; Eddie McCallion, Peter Hutton, Clive Delaney, Stephen Gray; Gareth McGlynn, Kevin Deery (Niall McGinn 61), Barry Molloy, Owen Morrison; Mark Farren (Conor Sammon 89), Kevin McHugh.
Subs not used: Mark McChrystal, Ciaran Martyn and Eugene Ferry.
Booked: Delaney (34), Morrison (64).
Referee: Hugo Whoriskey (Meath).
Attendance: 4,700 (estimate).
Man-of-the-Match: Owen Morrison (Derry City).
