Hegarty sees red over penalty decisions

May 11, 2007

Finn Harps…….0

Dundalk………..0

Report by Chris McNulty (Derry People, Donegal News)

FINN Harps and Dundalk shared the spoils at Finn Park on Friday night last as Harps stretched their recent unbeaten run to four games, but home boss Paul Hegarty was far from being a happy camper afterwards as he felt his side has one, if not two, justifiable claims for a penalty.

Referee Tom Connolly waved away the appeals as Tony Shields went to ground under the challenge of Paul Marney on 59minutes - a decision that left the manager fuming and indeed he was sent to the stand for his troubles.

Just seven minutes later the protests were again in vain as the home contingent argued that a Stephen Parkhouse flick on from Sean Roddy's well-delivered free kick struck the arm of Dundalk defender Ben Whelahan.

An irate Hegarty commented afterwards: “I felt we should have had one penalty, if not to penalties tonight and that really disappoints me. I feel really gutted for the players because they put in an honest days work and I don't think they we rewarded for it.

“When decisions go against you, they go against you. I am really, really annoyed about that tonight. I don't know why we didn't get one penalty, if not two,” said the Harps boss.

“The Tony Shields one was, without doubt, a cast iron penalty. The man has come in from behind and tackled him. If it was anywhere else on the pitch it would have been a free-kick and if it was on any other pitch in the county it probably would have been a penalty, but I can't say too much on it as I'll be in trouble,” he added.

Harps came into Friday night's clash with the table-toppers on the back of two straight home victories over Kilkenny City and Sligo Rovers and manager Hegarty opted to rewarded the heroes from Monday night with places in his starting line-up.

Conor Gethins and Stephen Parkhouse netted the goals in Monday's win over Sligo as Harps overturned a two-nil half-time deficit and they were given starting berths in place of Barry Curran and Seamus Brown.

In one further change from the side that defeated Sligo, captain Tony Shields returned to the centre of the park in place of Shaun McGowan. That meant Gordon Simms again missed out as Hegarty kept faith with his centre-back pairing of Eloka Asokhu and Declan Boyle.

Dundalk, meanwhile, came to Ballybofey after an undefeated first round of fixtures that saw them top the pile.

Just three minutes in though, the Lilywhites were dealt a huge blow when Trevor Vaughan was stretchered off after going down awkwardly under a challenge in the middle of the park by Eloka Asokhu.

With Anto Flood being shown the door following an alleged difference of opinion with one of the backroom team after last week's stalemate with Kildare County, John Gill threw former Harps man Paul Smith into the Dundalk attack.

It was a first-half of relatively few chances with matters evenly poised throughout.

For Harps, their best effort came the way of Chris Breen just after the quarter-hour. A long ball from Eloka Asokhu found its way to the young Stranorlar man, who shot straight at Dundalk goalkeeper Chris Bennion from a promising position.

John O'Loughlin also had a shot well tipped over the bar while, at the other end, James Gallagher denied Paul Smith with a fine save after the former Harps man latched on to a poor backpass.

Six minutes from the break, Harps had a let-off when Gallagher's throw out to O'Loughlin came off the Buncrana man and Shaun Williams pounced only to see his effort well saved by the Harps goalkeeper.

The Falcarragh man did well to thwart the efforts of Philip Hughes and Cathal O'Connor, before the two penalty incidents happened in a lively spell that led to the dismissal of the Harps boss.

In the closing stages, Hegarty watched from his vantage point in the stand as John O'Loughlin fired a snap-shot wide of the mark after Jonathan Minnock's throw in was only partially cleared.

The result was one that would probably have been settled for in the lead up to the game, but most certainly afterwards Harps manager Hegarty was viewing it as two points lost.

Next up for them is an away trip to Shelbourne on Saturday evening.

Finn Harps: James Gallagher; Sean Roddy, Jonathan Minnock, Declan Boyle, Eloka Asokhu; Tony Shields, Conor Gethins, John O'Loughlin, Shaun Holmes; Chris Breen, Stephen Parkhouse. Subs: Barry Curran (for Gethins, 80mins); Seamus Brown (for Breen, 82mins).

Dundalk: Chris Bennion; John Flanagan, David Crawley, Aidan Lynch, Ben Whelahan; Paul Marney, Cathal O'Connor, Shaun Williams, Keith Dunne; Trevor Vaughan, Philip Hughes. Subs: Paul Smith (for Vaughan, 3mins); Robbie Dunne (for Dunne, 68mins).

Referee: Tom Connolly (Dublin)