HARPS GO DOWN IN KILKENNY

June 4, 2006

Kilkenny City ……..1

(Doran 51)

Finn Harps………...0

Chris Mc Nulty reports from Buckley Park

Finn Harps' indifferent commencement to season 2006 continued last night as Anthony Gorman's charges went down by a single goal to nil against Kilkenny City at Buckley Park.

In truth, Harps really should have taken something from this game and they will certainly be rueing a number of missed opportunities.

Had they defeated the Cats they would have moved level with Cobh Ramblers on 17 points in fourth spot, but defeat means that it's back to the drawing board for the Ballybofey based club.

Last night's disappointing defeat means that Kilkenny move onto 14 points along with Harps and

Harps opened the brighter and should have gone into a sixth minute lead but Barry Curran fired over from a great position. The Ballindrait man capitalised on a poor clearance from Shanahan but he shot over with only the Kilkenny netminder to beat.

Seconds before Curran's chance, Mark Mukendi had the ball in the opposition net but his celebrations were cut short by the linesman's flag.

On the half hour mark Eloka Asokhu stabbed wide of the mark after Anthony Gorman's stinging free kick wasn't properly dealt with by Shanahan.

Then, Sean Mc Gowan had an overhead kick go well wide before Kilkenny began coming into the contest and threatened the Harps rearguard.

Eddie Smith pounced on a bad error by Shane Bradley and raced clear, but thankfully for the Harps backline the Cats' frontman saw his effort deflect off Marc Mukendi and wide.

Cathal Brady fired wide from distance and referee Aidan O Regan called a halt to the first half with the stalemate still intact.

One talking point from last night's game was the attendance figure. The watching crowd struggled to reach the 100 mark and one must wonder for the future of the eircom League as this game was the fourth game in a couple of weeks which had attracted a crowd of lower than 100.

The paltry crowd were treated to a goal six minutes after the restart. Unfortunately for those who travelled the long journey from Donegal it went to the home side.

Shane Bradley was adjudged to have fouled Paddy O Hanlon on the edge of the box and up stepped Christy Doran to sent a sweet left footed effort beyond the despairing dive of James Gallagher.

This was Doran's fourth goal of the season and the third he has scored against Harps. When Kilkenny came away from the Twin Towns in March with a 2-1 win, Doran was architect in chief scoring both goals.

Anthony Gorman then called Chris Breen from the bench to add some spice into the Harps attack and the flame-haired Stranorlar youngster was involved in the thick of it straight away.

Scampering down the right, Breen made his way into the box where he went down under a challenge from Mark Reid.

The head-in-hands reaction from the Kilkenny defender appeared to enhance the notion that he had fouled the Harps man but amazingly Aiden O Regan waved away the shouts and subsequently booked Breen for a dive.

Then, with protests aplenty emanating from the Harps bench, the match official stormed over and gave Stephen O Donnell his marching orders. The Mannorcunningham man was only off the pitch a matter of minutes having been replaced by Breen and he is likely to get a ban for this incident.

As Harps went in search of an equaliser, Jonathan Minnock smashed a free kick agonisingly off the post and Shane Bradley went close with a header but it seemed as if it wasn't going to be one of those nights.

And so it was. Harps pressed and pressed for a breakthrough but no goals were forthcoming and they would go back to the Northwest empty handed.

In the dying stages, Chris Breen's finishing let him down. A cross from Barry Curran from the right found its way into danger territory where Breen was lurking dangerously. He opted, however, to wait for a right-footed shot at the back post when attacking it with the head appeared his best option.

Then, with time almost up, Sean Mc Gowan hit the post as Harps' fate was sealed and Kilkenny manager sank to his knees triumphantly saluting what was his side's first home win of the season.

For Anthony Gorman and his side, the next taste of action will be on June 24 th when Galway United visit Finn Park.

The task is clear – the corner must be turned as results like last night's are clearly not good enough. Harps now find themselves firmly rooted in the mid-table scrum and will need a run of wins to propel them back into contention.

Kilkenny City: Aaron Shanahan; Conor Mc Mahon, Paul Malone, Aaron Mooney, Mark Reid (Trevor Conroy 68); Shane Hennessy, Cathal Brady, Peter Darcy, Chris Doran; Paddy O Hanlon, Edward Smith.

Finn Harps: James Gallagher; Eloka Asokhu, Jonathan Minnock, Marc Mukendi, Shane Bradley; Chris Malseed (Matthew Crossan 76), Barry Curran, Sean Mc Gowan, David Bell; Stephen O Donnell (Chris Breen 54), Anthony Gorman.

Referee: Aiden O'Regan