EVEN JOSH MAILEY himself was taken by surprise when Ollie Horgan named his Finn Harps team to face Longford Town a fortnight ago.
The Harps players sat attentively in the bowels of the City Calling Stadium as Horgan read the list.
Mailey hadn’t started a game since the play-off win over Limerick in November, but Horgan had seen enough in the last month to send him into battle.
It was a moment that felt as if it had been coming for an eternity; Seven long months had passed since he started a competitive fixture in Harps colours.
[adrotate group=”50″]After 18 minutes, Mailey curled in a delightful opening goal in the 2-0 win and laid down a reminder of just why he’s so highly thought of.
“It feelt good,” he says.
‘Obviously in the first half we gave away a couple of free kicks and I felt a bit rusty at the start.
“The goal helped me to settle down a bit. We managed that game well. We were there in Longford to do a job. It was important to get the first away win in the season.
[adrotate group=”43″]“It wasn’t about how it looked or anything like that.
“Confidence in the team is growing and that’s two clean sheets in a row now. We played well as a team in Longford.”
Mailey’s goal and Tony McNamee’s second helped fire Harps 12 points clear of the Midlanders, who are occupying the bottom spot in the Division.
For the first half of the season, Mailey assumed the role of spectator and supporter.
The onset of osteitis pubis at the tail end of last season worsened and eventually he had to take a break.
[adrotate group=”38″]“It was probably down to over-training, I first felt it at the start of August, when I was out suspended after getting sent off against Athlone,” Mailey says.
“It just got worse and worse. Kevin (McHugh) and Keith (Cowan) both had the same symptoms. Mine was worse, though, in the long run. I was taking pain killers before games between then and the end of the season.
“It’s sort of human nature, isn’t it? No-one wants to say that they’re injured. I managed it as best I could, but when I went to a specialist at the end of the season he just advised me what was best and I knew then I’d be out for a while.”
Many forget perhaps, but Mailey was one of Harps’ leading lights last season. Before the red card against Athlone, he’d featured in each of Harps’ previous 23 games and he finished the season superbly, scoring a cracking goal in the second leg of the First Division play-off against UCD.
[adrotate group=”46″]When the Player of the Year votes were being totted it’s fair to assume that he was right up there.
Pre-season and the road back has been tough, though.
“I was always on a different time scale to the rest of the lads,” Mailey says.
“When we’d be in the Aura, they were on the pitch and I’d be up in the gym after seeing the physio for an hour or more. It gets fairly monotonous, that.
“In fariness, no-one pressurised me to come back, but it wasn’t easy. I got great support from Ollie, from Colm O’Neill and Mickey McGlynn.
“I’m feeling good again. I was surprised to be included in the squad for the games against Shamrock Rovers and Sligo. I didn’t expect that at all. I had hoped to maybe get a run against Crumlin in the Cup, but when that didn’t happen I never thought I’d be back so soon in the League.
“I got 70 minutes in against Cliftonville in a friendly and knew I was ready after that.”
[adrotate group=”77″]Mailey has watched Harps hold their own in the unforgiving top flight. It’s where he’s dreamed of playing since he was a boy at Letterkenny Rovers and he’s been impressed by what he’s seen so far of Harps.
He says: “We’re certainly not out of our depth anyway. This is the majority of a squad that’s been around the First Division.
“Last year, Limerick were second in the form guide to Dundalk when we played them in the play-off. We matched them and we bettered them to go up.
“We’ve been outclassed a couple of times, but we’ve been more than a match for most teams so far.”
Against Longford, the versatile Mailey was used as part of a three-man defence with Keith Cowan and Damien McNulty, but still managed to be advanced enough to fire Harps in front.
[adrotate group=”37″]“I like to think that I’m more effective pushing up,” he says.
“I like playing in the right wing-back position. It’s a very demanding position because you have two jobs to do and there’s no hiding place.
“I played there a good bit last season and chipped in with a few assists. I’ve got a good engine and can use it most when in those places.
“Coming back from a lengthy lay-off, though, playing at the back suited me the last day because I didn’t have to make many of those lung-bursting runs.”
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