Finn Harps is facing into an absolutely massive match on Monday night when Ollie Horgan’s men take on Limerick F.C. in a Promotion/Relegation play-off first leg tie in Ballybofey (kick-off 7.45). Harps who are up against Premier League opposition ideally need to win but a draw going to Limerick on Friday night would still give them a chance of securing a quick return to the top flight after just one season in the First Division. Horgan’s men have proved that they can carve out an away victory against Premier opposition after defeating Bray Wanderers in the FAI Senior Cup during the summer.
Horgan says Limerick have been preparing for this final play-off series for sometime after knowing that they were going to finish second from bottom of the Premier Division. In contrast Harps have been engaged in the two Drogheda games and have had just over a week to get ready for visit of Tommy Barrett’s outfit. “We will be up against it tomorrow night but it’s a challenge we have to be up for if we’re serious about promotion. The lads have put in a really big effort all season but all that will be for nothing if we can’t pull off a result that keeps our chances of promotion in the melting pot for the game in Limerick next Friday night” Horgan said.
The Harps boss says that will be a big ask with the quality that the visitors have in their ranks. “We know Killian Cantwell and Danny Morrissey well from their time with us last year. They have another lad Barry Maguire who has played at a decent level in Holland. Then you have Shane Tracey, Billy Dennehy and Shane Duggan who have lots of experience in big games. So it’s going to take a massive effort from our lads to get something out of this game. Gareth Harkin, Paddy McCourt, Mark Timlin, Nathan Boyle and Mark Coyle are all carrying injuries. But, we won’t making any excuses. We have lads who have been on the bench who can come in and do a job for us. We trained yesterday and everyone at Finn Harps is really looking forward to the game. Again we would appeal to our fans to give the players a really big vocal support right trough the game tomorrow night. Hopefully that, a big performance from the team and a bit of luck will see us still in with a decent chance before we go to Limerick for the second leg” Horgan concluded.
Listen to Ollie Horgan and Ollie Horgan below…
Finn Harps v Limerick in the 1st Leg of the Promotion Relegation Play Off will be LIVE on Highland this Bank Holiday Monday from 7.40pm with Diarmaid Doherty and former Finn Harps Captain Gavin Cullen, in association with Intersport Brian McCormicks, Main Street Letterkenny.