OLLIE Horgan begins his eighth season as Finn Harps manager on Saturday night – and wants to take the Donegal side up the table.
The eighth-place finish secured by Harps in the Covid-19 disrupted campaign in 2020 was the club’s best Premier Division finish in 20 years.
Now, the challenge for Horgan and Harps is to go again as they head into a third successive season in the top flight.
“If we could move up a notch, we’d take that with open arms,” Horgan told Donegal Daily/Donegal Sport Hub.
“Can we improve? Can we go up a notch? It’s very difficult to go up a notch.
“Bohs have gone from third to second – and you know where they’re aiming for. To try and jump two or three notches in the one season is a huge ask.”
Fans will again be absent from the League of Ireland terraces for the foreseeable future as Covid restrictions continue.
Harps face Bohs, last season’s runners-up, on Saturday at Finn Park to get the new season underway.
Horgan has made some useful acquisitions, including frontmen Tunde Owolabi, formerly of FC United of Manchester, and Ryan Shanley, who is on loan from HIbs, not to mention the recruits of the likes of Will Seymoure and Conor Barry, with Sean Boyd expected to be added before the weekend.
Horgan said: “We won’t know whether we’ve improved until we’re in the heat of the battle.
“I don’t know if anyone knows. We have a lot of changes and we genuinely don’t know where we’re going to be.”
Listen to the full interview below …
