Salthill Devon -v- Finn Harps

• Simon O'Gorman
• Thu, May 20 2010


Salthill Devon welcome Finn Harps to Drom on Friday night with both sides coming to the game on the back of morale boosting results. (kick off 7pm)

Salthill manager Emlyn Long will be watching his side from the clubhouse balcony as he serves a one match suspension from the dugout but his mood will have been greatly improved by a valuable point gained at Athlone Town last Saturday night.

Salthill surrendered a two-goal lead at Lisseywoolen after Damien O’Reilly and Marcin Marienek had put them ahead, but there were shades of the Alamo about their defensive stand in the final minutes. A 2-2 away draw against a hard to beat Athlone side will have been well received.

Harps for their part, have struggled this season and lie eighth in the Airtricity First Division with only one win in their last six league games. On the up side that win came last weekend when they overcame Longford Town 2-0 at Finn Park. Manager James Gallagher will welcome that bit of momentum as his side go into the weekend.

Gallagher, indeed is experiencing a more hands on role than most league bosses as he is expected to continue in goal, deputising for the injured Ciaran Gallagher. Michael Funston will also be absent due to suspension while wide midfielder Stephen McLoughlin is a doubt with a calf injury.

Both are key members of Harps midfield and notions of an easy three points for the visitors are wide of the mark. Gallagher also recognises that the Division’s bottom side have been quietly improving their performance levels.

“If you look at some of their results, they went 2-0 up early on against Athlone last week and 2-0 up against Limerick only to get beat 3-2. So certainly you can see a trend there, that some teams maybe went down there underestimating them a bit. But you know for sure we won’t do that. We’ll be going there intent on building on the Longford game and not taking anything for granted.”

With the season no longer in its early stages and a sense of consequence developing around the league table, both teams will understand the need for a positive result on Friday night. While the statistics would point to Finn Harps as the likely victors, don’t be surprised if Salthill make this more of a contest than James Gallagher would like.

Salthill Devon
Injured: Team news unavailable
Doubtful: Team news unavailable
Suspended: Sean Murphy

Finn Harps
Injured: Ciaran Gallagher
Doubtful: Stephen McLoughlin.
Suspended: Michael Funston.

Referee: J McLoughlin