Salthill Devon 0 - 1 Finn Harps

• Jason Byrne
• Tue, May 25 2010


Finn Harps recorded their second away win of the season on Friday night thanks to a solitary Tommy Bonner drive that sunk gutsy Salthill Devon at Drom in Galway.

Harps will consider themselves lucky to have left the west with the win, as this was an all-round below par display in which the Ballybofey side created little even though the Galway outfit finished with 10 men as Mike Quirke saw red.

After dominating much of the early possession, Harps took the lead when Devon failed to defend a high Mark Forker ball into the box. Brian Geraghty tamely headed straight into Bonner’s path, lurking at the edge of the box, and he fired low into the bottom right hand corner to give them a deserved lead on 22 minutes.

But when Harps really should have pushed on to wrap up the win, they failed to do so. Nonetheless, a largely uneventful first half ended with the visitors in front.

The scrappy opening period had mainly consisted of cheap fouling, and when Harps tried to push on from midfield they were met by a stubborn home defence.

In the second half Devon finally started to play and within two minutes marked their intent when Damien O’Reilly had the ball in the net but was denied by the offside flag.

Moments later Bonner almost nabbed his second on the break when he drove low again from a similar distance only to just miss the target. Harps would have to wait until injury time for another such half-chance, and Devon were growing in confidence that they would find an equaliser by the minute.

On the hour mark, Harps were handed a huge scare when Devon’s Polish maestro Marcin Marinek was picked out by Shane Stenson and his goalward drive was met by the post.

Meanwhile Mike Kennedy had arrived for Devon also and began causing the blues some considerable grief on the left flank, and was also a victim of the offside trap following two debatable decisions from the assistant referee.

Had he opted to let play continue, James Gallagher’s men may not have went home as winners. Opting for himself as stopper again, the player-manager's team mates will be glad he chose the gloves instead of the dugout.

As the Devon threat increased he caught every high ball, and showed real bravery when Daryl Horgan crossed for Kennedy who was unmarked but Gallagher pounced and gathered.

The game had failed to produce a single card until the 80th minute and Devon then found themselves a man down. A late Shane Stenson challenge on Bonner angered the Harps ranks and a small handbag-type showdown quickly developed on the halfway line.

In a moment of madness, Mike Quirke must have heard something he didn’t like from a man in a blue shirt and opted to throw the ball at them as a result – earning him an early bath.

At the death Salthill skipper Brian Geraghty found himself completely free in the box and was picked out by Stenson – only for his poor attempted lob to fall easily into Gallagher’s hands.

Harps substitute Oisin McMenamin almost had the final say, though, but his fine blast also found Ronan Forde in good form. It’s wins like these that could prove so important come the end of the season but one further worry for Gallagher ahead of the visit of Monaghan is that veteran Jonathan Minnock’s game was over after 40 minutes, as he suffered a groin injury.

Salthill Devon: R Forde; P Quinlan, J McGrath (L McConnell 83mins), B Geraghty, J Whelan; S Browne, M Marinek (S Boyle 77mins), M Quirke, S Stenson; D Horgan, D O’Reilly (M Kennedy 60mins).

Finn Harps: J Gallagher; J Doherty, M Crossan, J Minnock (M Brolly 40mins), P Mailey; G Whoriskey, T Bonner, J Lafferty (F Bonner 82mins), M Forker; D Walsh (O McMenamin 85mins), K McHugh.

Referee: J McLoughlin.