Mervue United -v- Finn Harps

• Terry Flaherty
• Sat, Aug 07 2010


Mervue United will be hoping to break a run of four consecutive defeats when they host Finn Harps at Terryland Park on Saturday evening with kick-off at 7 p.m.

Although only two places separate the sides at the bottom of the First Division, Harps remain a massive 12 points ahead of their hosts. Harps will come into the game in a much more confident mood having taken points of off title chasing Derry City and Waterford United plus a 1-0 win over Athlone Town in their last four games.

Mervue on the other hand have lost all four league games since their 4-3 win over Longford Town and badly need a change of luck to put some points on the board. They will however be looking to record a second win of the season over the Donegal side having won 3-2 in Finn Park, a first win of the season. Early goals from Evan Connolly and Rory Gaffney set them on their way in that game, with Gaffney adding a very late second to ensure the win despite two goals from Harps Kevin McHugh.

Mervue manager Tom French will have to plan without goalkeeper Ger Hanley following his sending off against Monaghan last week while Tommy Walsh is also unavailable. On the plus side he should be boosted by the return to the squad of experienced players Eric Browne, Mike Tierney, Nicky Curran and Rory Gaffney who all missed last weekend’s defeat.

Mervue manager Tom French was very disappointed with his sides defeat last weekend “We started the game well, but having our keeper sent-off after half an hour wasn’t ideal. We were doing quite well up until that but when they scored the penalty it was an uphill battle after that. There were a couple of positives though with the debuts of Dave Ryan and 17 year old James Casserley, who didn’t look out of place in at centre back and then after the sending off he finished the game at right back.”

Finn Harps manager James Gallagher will be without striker Kevin McHugh who serves the last of a three game suspension, while Matthew Crossan (groin) is doubtful and goalkeeper Ciaran Gallagher remains sidelined.

Gallagher was very happy with last week’s performance against leaders Derry saying “It’s fair to say that it was probably our best performance of the season. We have played as well in other games, but just for parts of the game. Against Derry I thought we remained focused for the ninety minutes”

On this weekend’s game against Mervue Gallagher said “In order to make the Derry result and performance a good one, we really need to push on this week and win down in Galway. We owe them one after they came to Finn Park and beat us earlier this season and it was without doubt the lowest point of our season. However, we need to give them credit for winning that game and they will fancy their chances. They will feel that if they can come to Ballybofey and win, then they should be good enough to beat us in Terryland Park. If we can continue on from where we left off against Derry last week, it gives us a great chance to pick up three points and that would go a little way towards getting over the game with them earlier in the season.”

Extratime.ie Prediction: 1-1 draw