HARPS EDGE INTO THE NEXT ROUND

May 27, 2006

Finn Harps……….1

(Gorman, 59)

Crumlin United…..0

Chris Mc Nulty reports from Finn Park

Player-manager, Anthony Gorman, was the hero for Finn Harps last night as they defeated plucky Crumlin United by a single goal to progress to the next round of the FAI Cup.

The Letterkenny native struck a customary free-kick past the despairing Garreth Sutton on 59 minutes, much to the relief of the sparse attendance at Finn Park, many of whom raised a number of questions regarding the performance of the home side last evening.
Had a spectator of the neutral variety been present not having been furnished with the who's who, then he would have had a degree of difficulty in separating the first division team from the non-league team.

Last night, Crumlin were much the hungrier side for the most part, and indeed can feel that perhaps they should be looking to a replay this week against Harps.
Maybe, they may feel that they could even have sneaked a win, and with it, progress to the next round.

Definitely the Dubliners were the better side in the second half and but for a couple of telling saves from Harps 'keeper James Gallagher they could have got their noses in front.

The first half was a rather drab affair and the main talking points in the opening 45 came in the form of another two Harps injuries.

Sean Cooney was forced to withdraw after only 21 minutes and was replaced by Gorman. The verdict on the on-loan Bohemians man after the match was that he has tweaked his troublesome hamstring again.

Perhaps of more concern was the injury to young Davitt Walsh with six minutes left in the first half.

The Kerrykeel youngster was stretchered off and was certainly in agony with what appeared to be an injury to his ankle. After the game, Anthony Gorman confirmed that Walsh had gone to hospital for an x-ray.

In that lacklustre first half, the home side had little in the way of chances. A succession of set-pieces early on came to nothing while at the other end James Gallagher wasn't being tested too much either.

However, it was the Dubliners who began the second half the brighter. Gary Mc Cabe saw himself with a sight of the Town End goal, but James Gallagher was equal to his effort and pulled off a fine save.

Moments later, Mc Cabe had a second chance of giving his side the lead, but this time he fired wide when he really should have hit the target.

Crumlin were to rue those missed chances when Harps moved in front on 59 minutes. They were awarded a free kick 25 yards from goal and up stepped player-manager Anthony Gorman to power home past the Sutton.

The Crumlin net-minder got a hand to the strike but was powerless to stop it from going in past him.

After this it was Harps who had the better of the chances. Sutton made a good double save from substitute Barry Curran while Chris Breen fired wastefully wide after fine play from Curran.

Eloka Asokhu played in the Ballindrait man who passed his man before squaring for Breen. When all he had to do was place the ball into the corner, the baby-faced assassin amazingly dragged his shot wide of goal.

Crumlin went in search of an equaliser but it wasn't to be and Harps held on to progress to the next round which is pencilled in for the week ending August 27 th .

Next up for Harps is an away tie to Kilkenny City next Saturday before the three week break commences.

Finn Harps: James Gallagher; Eloka Asokhu, David Bell, Marc Mukendi, Shane Bradley; Chris Breen, Sean Cooney (Anthony Gorman), Chris Malseed, Jonathan Minnock; Stephen O Donnell (Barry Curran), Davitt Walsh (Darren Meenan).

Crumlin United: Garreth Sutton; Gavin Kavanagh (Neil Stone), Keith O Brien, Paul Mc Cabe, Mark Sullivan, Ciaran Kenna, Chris Mc Creevy, Daniel Loughran, Thomas Fahy, Wayne Mooney (Sean Murray), Gary Mc Cabe.

Referee: Stephen Toner (Donegal)

Finn Harps Dot Com Man of the Match: The official Carlsberg Man of the Match award went to Crumlin's Daniel Loughran and certainly no-one could argue with this decision.

The lively midfielder put in a commendable performance in the centre of the park where he bossed the show from beginning to end.

For the home team there were note worthy performances from substitutes Barry Curran and Anthony Gorman who of course scored the all-important goal, but our award this week goes to goalkeeper JAMES GALLAGHER.

With the scoreline still blank, the Gorthahork native pulled off a couple of fine stops to deny the Dubliners the lead goal and his assuredness between the posts gave confidence to his side to go on and take victory.