Finn Harps -v- Mervue United

• Terry Flaherty
• Fri, May 07 2010


Mervue Utd travel to Donegal still searching for that elusive first win of the season as they take on eighth-placed Finn Harps in Ballybofey tonight. (Kick-off: 8pm)

Finn Harps have lost only once at home this season as it’s their away form that has let them down, while Mervue have lost all five on the road so far in this campaign. Harps will be looking to bounce back from an away defeat to Derry City last Tuesday night following a scoreless draw with Cork City FORAS last weekend.

Mervue bounced back from a 4-0 away defeat at the hands of Shelbourne last Friday night to record a battling ten man 1-1 draw with Monaghan Utd at home on Bank holiday Monday night.

Tom French will travel minus a lot of his squad for tonight's game, as his long injury list includes Darren Young, David O’Dowd, Martin Conneely, Mike Elwood, Ollie Keogh, Phillip Ryan and David Goldbey. Brothers Enda and Nicky Curran are both also unavailable through suspension and work commitments respectively. On the plus side Mark Ludden, Kevin Crehan, Rory Gaffney, Paul Scally and Noel Varley all return to the squad for tonight's game.

Harps manager, James Gallagher, will have to shuffle his pack as he deals with the loss of two defenders through suspension. Jonathan Minnock and Matthew Crossan will both serve one game suspensions as a result of their red cards in the 2-0 defeat to Derry City in midweek. Goalkeeper Ciaran Gallagher remains sidelined, while midfielder Tommy Bonner will also miss out after picking up a shin injury in the Derry game.

Gallagher commented on Friday’s game against Mervue United: “It’s a must win game for us – it’s as simple as that. We didn’t want to be in a situation where we were playing must-win games so early in the season, but we have nobody to blame but ourselves.

"Mervue look like they may be starting to improve after their poor start to the season, and picked up a good point against Monaghan earlier this week. However, we are at home and we will be looking for a positive reaction from the players after Tuesday night’s game against Derry. We have a number of games coming up against teams who are below us in the table, and we have set ourselves a target of nine points from the next three games.”

With both teams in need of a win, a very tight game looks on the cards in Donegal tonight. Harps will be looking to move up the table with a win, while their visitors tonight will be hoping for a first victory of the season to leapfrog their city rivals off the bottom of the table.

Finn Harps
Injured: Ciaran Gallagher, Tommy Bonner.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: Jonathan Minnock, Matt Crossan.

Mervue United
Injured: Darren Young, David O'Dowd, Martin Conneely, Mike Elwood, Ollie Keogh, Dave Goldbey, Philip Ryan.
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: Enda Curran.

Referee: J. Grimes.

Extratime prediction: A draw, 1-1.