Breen On Target For Significant Milestone

May 28, 2007

By Joe Doherty

IF HE PLAYS THIS EVENING AND ON MONDAY IN MONAGHAN, CHRIS BREEN WILL BECOME JUST THE 50th PLAYER TO PLAY 100 GAMES FOR FINN HARPS.  JOE DOHERTY CAUGHT UP WITH THE STRANORLAR MAN EARLIER THIS WEEK TO LOOK BACK AT HIS FIRST 100 GAMES IN THE BLUE AND WHITE.

Christopher Breen's performances in recent games suggest he is a certain starter in tonight's game against Cobh Ramblers and all things going well he should play in Monaghan again on Monday night next.  If this happens, Chris Breen will become the 50th player to represent Finn Harps on 100 occassions.  No mean feat. 

Still only 22 years of age, Breen seems to have been around Finn Park forever.  A Finn Harps fan all his short life, he and his team mate Shaun McGowan were amongst the travelling hoards who frequently departed Finn Park for many's an away ground during their teenage years.

Just four months after his 18th birthday, the Stranorlar man took to the Finn Park pitch for the first time as a senior player against Dundalk in July 2003, something he sttill fondly remembers.  “It was brilliant and I loved it,” said Breen.  “The funny thing is, I wasn't even meant to be in the squad.  Someone got injured at training the previous night and Speakie said that I would be on the bench.  Then in the second-half he told me I was going on and I couldn't believe it.”

It was Jonathan Speak who gave Breen his first taste of senior action but he would make only three substitute appearances for the club under Speak - who was replaced as Manager just two months after Breen's debut by Noel King.  Breen made three more substitute appearrances under King before starting his first game in the final match of the 2003 season in Cobh.  That was the last time that Breen would feature for Harps under King.

Fast forward to the following May and the appointment of Felix Healy as boss.  Healy named Breen in his first match in charge - a league cup tie against Derry City at the Brandywell.  Breen never looked back and was a mainstay in the side that would go on to lift the First Division title that season.  He featured in all but two of the games for the remainder of the 2004 season

He scored his first goal for the club in the 5-1 league cup quarter-final hammering of Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds and followed that up with eight more strikes as the club finished top of the First Division with a record number of points.  “People had been talking for a long time about when I would get my first goal”, recalls Breen.  “We were 3-0 up in Sligo and got a penalty and Kevin McHugh came over and handed me the ball and said ‘take that'.  I initially said ‘No' but he forced me to do it.  It was great to break the duck as I had played about ten games in a row at that stage.  I then scored two in our next game against Limerick.”

Breen confirms that his best spell as a player at the club was during the reign of Healy.  “I definitely played my best football for the club when Felix was in charge.  He was great to the young players and he gave me and Mickey (Funston) the licence to do whatever we wanted on the pitch.  He was always encouraging us and I was very disappointed when he left the club.”

Breen was a first choice for Healy at the start of the 2005 Premier Division season but after the Derryman's dismissal midway through the season, Breen fell out of favour with new boss Anthony Gorman.  In the 17 games remaining in the 2005 season, Breen started just seven of these games having been an almost ever present for the previous season and a half.  “It was fustrating to go from being in the team to being out of it.  I didn't play a lot under Anthony and when I did it was always on the right-wing.“

Breen again was limited to just a handful of starts as Harps began life in Division One in 2006 after just one season in the top flight.  It came as no surprise that Breen was quickly snapped up on loan by Shamrock Rovers when the club made all players available for transfer as they sought to avoid a potential financial crisis. 

Although he had to be content to play a bit part role, Breen did pick up his second First Division Championship medal with Pat Scully's side at the end of last season and scored what was probably the most important goal for the Hoops when he equalised against Dundalk at Oriel Park to maintain the Dublin sides position at the top of the table in the closing weeks of the season.  “Shamrock Rovers were a great club to play for and they have a massive fan base,” said Breen of his time at the Hoops.  “The expectations up there are far greater than what they are here and it was great to be a part of their squad for a short time last season.  I was unlucky with an injury I had at the time as I would liked to have played more for them.”

Breen highlights the games with Dundalk and Kildare at the tail end of the 2004 season as his best memories of his first hundred games at the club.  “The two late goals in Kildare, where I scored one, were crucial and we came off the pitch that night knowing that we had every chance of winning the league against Dundalk the following weekend.  The Dundalk game is obviously a highlight and I will never forget the excitement and celebrations after the final whistle.”

The Stranorlar man describes goings-on around Finn Park at the minute as “brilliant.  The training at the moment is the best since I first came to the club.  The preparation we receive from Paul Hegarty is first class and we can have no complaints.  Everything is set out for us and everyone knows exactly what is expected from them.  The squad we have at the minute is probably the best squad we have had in my time here with some very good individual players.”

On reaching the 100 game milestone, Breen says that it is “an honour to achieve it, considering that not too many have done it in the past.”

He still believes that Harps have everything to play for this season.  “Four or five wins on the trot can make a huge different.  Cobh had a bad start and look what a good run of results has done for them.  This squad has the ability to  go on a similar run so it is up to us to make sure that we can still make the top of the table.”

Below is a list of the 49 players who have reached the magical one-hundred games in a Harps shirt.

Player Ap.

1 Jonathan Minnock 426

2 Jim Sheridan 397

3 Patrick McGrenaghan 393

4 Con McLaughlin 391

5 Brendan Bradley 358

6 John Gerard McGettigan 343

7 Declan McDowell 327

8 Declan Boyle 317

9 Shane Bradley 291

10 Jonathan Speak 263

11 Charlie Ferry 262

12 Kevin McHugh 248

13 Tom Mohan 234

14 Peter Hutton 230

15 Joe Logan 213

16 Gerry Murray 204

17 Declan McIntyre 197

18 Tony O'Doherty 193

19 Paddy McGrory 192

= Terry Harkin 192

= Trevor Scanlon 192

22 Eddie McGinley 179

23 Johnny Kenny 166

24 Jim McDermott 157

25 Sean Boyle 151

26 John Quigg 148

27 Charlie McDermott 146

28 Eloka Asokuh 143

29 Eddie McGroarty 143

30 John McElwaine 142

31 Anthony Gorman 139

32 Peter McNally 132

33 James Mulligan 129

34 Charlie McGeever 128

35 Jim Smith 124

36 Liam McDermott 121

37 Donal O'Brien 120

38 Gerry Doherty 118

39 Paddy Slevin 116

40 John Minnock 113

41 Joe Healy 110

= Brian Lafferty 110

43 Niall Bonner 108

44 Liam Sweeney 107

= George Grier 107

46 Hilary Carlyle 105

47 Jimmy McGroarty 104

= John Duffy 104

49 Fergal Harkin 102

Of the above, five players are still playing League of Ireland football.  Three players continue to play for Finn Harps while the other two - Fergal Harkin and Kevin McHugh - are playing in the Premier Division for Bohemians and Derry City respectively.