HARPS STEP INTO LAST EIGHT

May 9, 2006

Sligo Rovers……..1

(Turner 66)

Finn Harps………1

(O Donnell 58)

After extra time. Harps win 5-4 on penalties

Chris Mc Nulty reports from The Showgrounds

Stephen O' Donnell was the hero of the night for Finn Harps as the Ballybofey-based club enjoyed a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds.

O Donnell scored the Harps goal in normal time, and the Manorcunningham natove showed great composure to step up and tuck away the winning penalty in the nerve-racking shoot-out.

Gavin Cullen had saved from Jamie Mc Kenzie, with Foy, Kudozovic, Turner and Hughes finding the net for Rovers.

Meanwhile, Bradley, Minnock, Asokuh, Gorman and, of course, O Donnell were all on target for Harps who converted five out of five.

This was Harps' second shoot-out win of the season, having dispatched Galway in the last round after the spot-kick lottery.

Following on from the impressive 3-1 win over Dundalk at Oriel Park last Thursday, Harps entered the game in upbeat mood, while Sligo were still smarting from the 3-0 defeat to UCD on Saturday.

Player-boss Anthony Gorman made three alterations from the side which had performed so impressively on Thursday last.

Barry Curran, who is away on his honeymoon, was replaced by Gary Crossan; Michael Funston was absent due to a knee injury and was replaced by Anthony Gorman; and James Gallagher was rested with Gavin Cullen deputised between the sticks.

Chris Breen again missed out on a place in the squad, as he is still recovering from his bout of food poisoning.

The opening exchanges were fairly timid, with the only notable action being a couple of half chances for the home side.

The lively Darren Mansaram beat Mokendi and from a good position was hassled away by Shane Bradley. Then Keith Foy had a long range effort go over the crossbar after a corner was played out to him.

Harps' first chance of note came on 20 minutes when Anthony Gorman's ferocious free-kick was beaten away by Brush after good work by Walsh to win the set-piece.

Mansaram was then played in by Judge and after holding off Marc Mokendi the striker had the ball taken off his toe by Harps defender Shane Bradley.

Rovers were then dealt a blow when Mansaram was forced to withdraw from the action through injury. His place was taken by a former Harps man, Sean Flannery.
Davitt Walsh had Harps' only other chance of the half when he fired wide from 20 yards after being fed by Anthony Gorman.

As the half neared a close, Cullen was out well to collect after Mc Cartney played in a fine through ball for Flannery and the sides went in at the break with the stalemate still intact.

It was Rovers who commenced part two the better and had Harps under a spell of pressure in the opening minutes.

A mix up in the Harps defence allowed Judge in, but his first touch let him down and the chance was gone.

Then, Gavin Cullen made a superb stop to deny Adam Hughes after a neat flick on from Matthew Judge. From the resulting corner, Sean Flannery's header was cleared by Davitt Walsh.

However, on 58 minutes, Harps grabbed the lead goal. David Bell fed Stephen O Donnell, and the former Sligo player, making his first appearance back at the Yeats County venue since his switch, fired home much to the delight of the away support.

Seven minutes later, the home side were back on level terms. Keith Foy played a quick free kick to Chris Turner. His initial effort was blocked by Shane Bradley, but Turner made no mistake with the follow up, firing a left footed volley past Gavin Cullen in the Harps goal.

After this, there was little in the way of goalmouth action. Harps did have a lucky escape seven minutes from time. Shane Bradley's back-pass looked to have played in Steve Feeney, but thankfully for Harps the referee's whistle had already sounded for a free to the visitors.

Normal time concluded with the sides deadlocked and, as it had done in the last round game against Galway United, extra time and possibly penalties was to decide the outcome.

Sligo had the better of the chances in the first half of the extra time. Sean Flannery had a shot well saved by Gavin Cullen, before the Harps net-minder had to be alert to avert the danger with Chris Turner lurking dangerous after a good corner from Foy.

In the closing stages of that first period of the extra time, Harps were reduced to ten men when debutant Darren Meenan was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

Part two began with Stephen O Donnell having his well hit effort from the edge of the box well tipped over by Richard Brush.

With a minute remaining Harps had a scare when Steve Feeney had a glancing header go narrowly wide of the post, and the dreaded penalties would decide the eventual winners.

Eventually, Harps came out on top to send them into the last eight of the competition.

Sligo Rovers: Richard Brush; Gavin Peers; Keith Foy; Liam Burns; Adam Hughes; Fahrudin Kudozovic; Jason Mc Cartney (Sean Kelly); Darren Mansaram (Sean Flannery); Chris Turner; Jamie Mc Kenzie; Matthew Judge (Steve Feeney).

Finn Harps: Gavin Cullen; Eloka Asokhu; Jonathan Minnock; Marc Mokendi; Shane Bradley; Chris Malseed; Gary Crossan (Sean Cooney); David Bell; Stephen O Donnell; Davitt Walsh (Darren Meenan); Anthony Gorman.