Horgan to make changes for Sligo cup game

Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan will make personnel changes for tomorrow night’s EA Sports Cup second round game against Sligo Rovers in Ballybofey (kick-off 8.00). A couple of those changes will be enforced with John Kavanagh joining a lengthening injury list while Mark Coyle is suspended after being sent-off against Waterford on Friday night.
“John [Kavanagh] pulled up with what looks like a hamstring injury and had to come off with something under 20 minutes to go in Waterford on Friday night. We don’t yet how long he will be out. Mark Coyle will be suspended for tomorrow night’s game so there will be opportunities for some of the younger lads to come in and make an impression. Some of them have very good in training and deserve a chance now. That’s going to freshen things up and hopefully we can get the mix right that gives us a decent chance of getting into the next round of the EA Sports Cup.”
With the quick turnaround after the heavy 4-0 defeat at the RSC on Friday night. Horgan says there are other players with knocks that will be further assessed tomorrow.
Reflecting back to  Friday night’s game in Waterford, Horgan said the Mark Coyle sending-off in the 26th minute had a massive impact on the course of the game. “We had played well in those first 25 minutes and had a couple of efforts, one of which clipped the outside of a post. Waterford were not going well but when we went down to 10-men it was a different story. They had almost all the possession and went ahead before half-time. If we had been able to hold it at that until the last 20 minutes or so, Waterford might have got a bit jittery but that’s not way it turned out. They got two more to make it 3-0 and it was game over. To their credit the 10 men worked very hard to close them down but away from home especially we just won’t get a result unless we have 11 players on the field.”
In addition to John Kavanagh and Mark Coyle, Harps also has Harry Ascroft, Sean Boyd, Mark Timlin and Gareth Harkin on the injury list. Tomorrow night’s cup game has extra-time and penalties on standby to decide the outcome if necessary. Horgan and Paul Hegarty will then their attention to preparing for the visit of Derry City to Finn Park on Friday night.