- Alan Foley
- Sat, Aug 30 2014
Whatever lingering hopes Finn Harps have of obtaining even a play-off place as the SSE Airtricity League Division One reaches the closing stages seem to have derailed following their 1-0 home defeat to Shamrock Rovers B.
Chris Lyons rolled a penalty into Conor Winn’s bottom left corner right on the 30-minute mark when Josh Mailey clipped Daniel Purdy in the area. Ben Connolly, the match referee, pointed straight to the spot and there weren’t too many complaints from those of a Harps persuasion.
Rovers, who had won 1-0 on their last visit to the Twin Towns in April when Stephen Confrey netted, lost central defender Conor Dunne on the hour-mark to a straight red card for bringing down Keith Cowan, who was on a marauding run to salvage back the damage.
The goal was an unfortunate concession for the Ballybofey side, who’d been unbeaten in 10 and only lost once in their previous 15 outings in league and cup. Inside of a minute Kevin McHugh scuffed into the side-netting after the Rovers defence failed to make a clearance on a cross from Brian McGroary.
Five minutes later, with Ollie Horgan’s team continuing to press from the front foot, Mailey’s dipping shot from 25 yards was beaten out only by Conor O'Malley’s crossbar. McHugh then went close again, rolling a shot inches wide, having spun onto a Pat McCann header into the Rovers area.
Having suffered from a back injury of late, McHugh was forced to leave the field before the first half was out. And despite his team’s chances, they were also a tad fortunate to stay on terms when goalkeeper Conor Winn spilled what should’ve been a routine save following a free-kick from Cian Kavanagh before hurriedly smothering.
Kavanagh, with a snapshot that skimmed the turf, forced Winn into a good fingertip stop right at the start of the second half. Harps created a couple of half-chances with Sean McCarron and Jordon Loftus bringing straightforward saves from O’Malley.
With a numerical advantage, the hosts created one excellent opportunity when Loftus and McCarron combined down the inside right channel, only for the latter to flash a shot across O’Malley and just wide with the outside of his right foot.
Pat McCann then fizzed a shot across the six-yard box that Loftus just failed to connect with.
Ger O’Callaghan also brought a save from O’Malley late on but it was Rovers who came closest to a second goal when Winn was scampering back having joined the attack for an injury time corner, only for Mark Sanford to drive just over the angle of post and crossbar.
Finn Harps: Conor Winn; Damien McNulty, Keith Cowan, Thomas McMonagle, Ciaran Coll (Michael Funston 75); Brian McGroary, Josh Mailey (Ger O’Callaghan half-time), Pat McCann, Gareth Harkin; Jordan Loftus, Kevin McHugh (Sean McCarron 35).
Subs not used:
Booked:
Shamrock Rovers B: Conor O'Malley; Maxime Veuille, Michael Kelly, Sean Heaney, Alan Keogh; Adam Whelan (Mark Sanford 82), Conor Dunne, Ryan Doolin, Daniel Purdy; Cian Kavanagh (Jack Watson 56); Chris Lyons (Azzez Yusef 77).
Subs not used:
Booked:
Referee: Ben Connolly.
Attendance:
