Finn Harps v Dundalk – eircom League of Ireland First Division – Finn Park, Friday 11 th May – kick-off 8.00pm

Having played every team in the First Division once, it's back to square one again as Finn Harps and Dundalk do battle at Finn Park on Friday night.  Dundalk go into the game unbeaten in their First Division campaign to date and have only lost once this season – at home to Shamrock Rovers in the League Cup.  Paul Hegarty's Finn Harps side are unbeaten in their last three games and have scored ten goals in those three games, including five against Kilkenny City in Ballybofey last Friday night.

Michael Funston again looks like being the only absentee as he struggles to overcome injury and Harps physio Mickey McGlynn said that the Letterkenny man is still a couple of weeks away from a complete recovery.  “Unfortunately, it's an injury that takes a bit of time to recover from”, McGlynn told www.finnharps.com .  “Hopefully though he is getting there and I'd be hopeful that he could be available for the Cobh game in a couple of weeks time.”

Harps Manager Paul Hegarty has something of a selection headache ahead of the visit of Dundalk.  Gordon Simms served a one match suspension against Kilkenny last weekend, but was left on the bench for the midweek league cup win over Sligo Rovers.  He could miss out again.  In midfield, captain Tony Shields is likely to return again after missing the Rovers game.  Up front, Hegarty has started with Chris Breen and Seamus Browne in the three match unbeaten run but Conor Gethins and Stephen Parkhouse shared the three goals after coming on as second-half substitutes against Sligo.  Breen has put in man-of-the-match performances against Kilkenny and Sligo and should retain his place.  Gethins could replace Barry Curran on the right-side of midfield as he did in the second half against Sligo, which would mean a toss up between Parkhouse and Brown to see who gets the nod to start up front alongside Breen.

Hegarty was delighted with his side's five goal display against Kilkenny.  “It surprised me a bit in that it was so comfortable.  I mean, we could have been two or three up before we scored at all.”  Harps came from two down to defeat Sligo in the League Cup on Monday night, something that pleased Hegarty.  “They showed great character and I think we're creating a lot of great chances at the minute; thankfully on Monday they went in for us.  The thing is we've kept plugging away over the last number of weeks and, in this game, the harder you work the luckier you get.  We kept going against a full-time team and I think we looked the fitter team.  We showed a wee bit of belief in the second half and came good.”

Hegarty expects nothing but a tough game against the league leaders on Friday.  “Dundalk will be another tough match for us as we found out in the first game of the season when we were beaten 3-2 in Oriel Park” he said.  “I thought we deserved something from that first game in Dundalk and I think if we can play as well as we did that night then I see no reason why we can't win the match.  Dundalk have been well set-up for the last couple of years and John Gill has a very good squad of players there and they'll be coming here looking for three points, but it's up to us to take the game to them since it's on our home patch.” 

It's just over 12 months since Harps last beat Dundalk, that coming in a 3-1 win at Oriel Park last season.  However, Dundalk have held the upper hand since then, winning three and drawing one of the last four meeting – including a 3-2 opening day victory this season in Paul Hegarty's first match in charge.

Last Six Meetings:

20 th November 2004 (First Division) Finn Harps 3 Dundalk 0

4 th May 2006 (First Division) Dundalk 1 Finn Harps 3

15 th July 2006 (First Division) Finn Harps 1 Dundalk 2

15 th September 2006 (First Division) Dundalk 1 Finn Harps 1

19 th November 2006 (First Division) Finn Harps 0 Dundalk 1

8 th March 2007 (First Division) Dundalk 3 Finn Harps 2

Form guide (last six league games):

Finn Harps: W-D-L-L-D-D (6pts).  Dundalk: D-W-W-D-D-W (12pts).

Friday's game kicks-off at 8.00pm.