Finn Harps -v- Mervue United

• Terry Flaherty
• Sat, Oct 30 2010


Mervue United end their second season in the Airtricity First Division with an away game against Finn Harps in Finn Park on Saturday night. (Kick-off 7.45pm)

A game of no significance with Mervue having secured their First Division status for next season with an excellent 2-1 win over a title chasing Monaghan United last Saturday in their final home game in Terryland Park. Manager and Donegal native, Tom French, will be hoping his side can finish on a high and record a third win in four games and back to back wins for the first time this season.

Finn Harps come into the game on the back of a 2-2 draw with champions elect Derry City as two Matthew Crossan strikes earned them a share of the spoils and put off Derry celebrations until this week. Prior to that they defeated Cork City as top scorer Kevin McHugh’s only goal of the game secured all three points in Finn Park.

Mervue’s last visit to Finn Park resulted in their first win of the season as two Rory Gaffney goals and another from Evan Connolly saw them run out 3-2 winners despite Kevin Mchugh scoring twice for the home side back in May. Harps turned that result around by winning 3-1 at Terryland in August, as goals from Oisin McMenamin, Davitt Walsh and Chris Breen saw them gain revenge for their early season defeat.

French will have to plan without Mark Ludden who is suspended, while captain Eric Browne is also unavailable. Dave Goldbey is a doubt but should be okay after a nasty looking injury forced him to leave the field last Saturday night. Young defender James Casserely should also return to the squad having missed last week’s win due to the under 17 inter provincials where he was named Player of the Tournament in Limerick.

James Gallagher’s team go into the last match of the season with no suspensions to worry about. Ciaran Coll (knee) remains a doubt while Chris Breen (shoulder) and Tony Shields (arm) will miss out once again. Raymond Foy and Gary Merritt are available for selection again.

James Gallagher on Saturday’s final game of the season against Mervue: “We’ll have to prepare properly for it. Mervue are a team that if they get their tails up they can cause you a lot of problems. Obviously, when we played Mervue at Finn Park before, we didn’t start the game and we got punished severely for it. But, we’ll look forward to it, it’s our last game of the season. We’ll be set up where we’d like to follow up the performances and results against Derry and Cork, and hopefully we can end the season with a win.”