AT THE TIME, when Garry Buckley went to ground in the 68th minute and Paul Tuite, the referee, pointed to the spot, Ollie Horgan’s gasket blew.
The Finn Harps manager was incensed after seeing his team punished in such a harsh manner.
Josh Mailey was deemed to have unfairly bundled the Cork City attacker over in the area and Sean Maguire drilled home the penalty to secure a 1-0 win for the visitors.
Some time later, after he’d had time to compose himself, Horgan was rather more diplomatic and a little less animated than he’d been on the sideline as he watched his team fall to an eighth straight loss.
“I’m not one to complain, but I’ve watched it on the video twenty times. No, it wasn’t a penalty, but we all make mistakes,” the Harps manager said.
“It happens in sport, when you’re struggling at the bottom of the table, maybe decisions don’t go for you.
“It’s hard to take when you’re at the bottom of the table and that was one of our better performances – and we still got nothing out of it.
[adrotate group=”38″]“Had we played like that against Longford, I think we’d have got something out of the game.
“It’s difficult to take, but that’s Premier Division football and we’ll move on.”
Horgan spoke with Tuite after a game that saw a spark return to Harps, but they still left empty handed, undone by that moment when Buckley tumbled and Maguire converted.
[adrotate group=”80″]Horgan said: “It’s hard to take and I don’t go down the line of complaining about referees. Did he make a mistake? I think he does. He thinks he didn’t. That’s it. We move on.
“There is no agenda in there, but when things don’t go your way…that performance was excellent and we were undone by a decision I couldn’t see where it came from.”
Three days previously, Harps lost 1-0 to bottom club Longford Town, but there was certainly a new vigour about Harps last night.
“If there is anything in there, there is honesty, there is hard work and a lot of them are hurting,” Horgan said.
[adrotate group=”37″]“We’re all hurting. It’s difficult to get out of the run we’re on. Sometimes when you don’t expect a result, it nearly goes your way.
“On Friday night, we expected a result and didn’t get it. Despite a lack of quality in the final third on Friday, I thought that they gave it everything and emptied the tank.
“We stifled Cork and, bar the one Ciaran Gallagher tipped over the bar, they didn’t have an out-and-out chance.
[adrotate group=”76″]“But we’d have preferred to play brutally and get a draw. It’s about performance to a certain extent, but it’s about getting points on the table and we’ve been stuck on 23 points for two months now.”
Listen to the full interview below …
https://soundcloud.com/donegalsporthub-club-notes/ollie-horgan-after-finn-harps-lose-against-cork-city
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