DESPITE AN AGGREGATE score of 12-0 against in their last three outings the mood around the Finn Harps camp remains positive according to top scorer Ryan Curran.
By Gary Anderson
FAI Intermediate Cup winners Crumlin United caused the shock of the round last weekend when they overcame Ollie Horgan’s men 1-0 at Finn Park in the senior competition, a defeat that came on the back of drubbings from St Patricks Athletic and Dundalk.
Photo caption: Finn Harps’ Ryan celebrates what proved to be the winning goal against Longford Town in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division in March. Photo: Gary Foy, newsandsportfiles.com
The 7-0 demolition in Ballybofey at the hands of the reigning Premier Division champions on May 13 was Harps’ heaviest ever home league defeat and just four days later they travelled to Richmond Park where they went down 4-0 to the side from the capital.
[adrotate group=”50″]However, Curran insists players and staff remain upbeat and are determined to bounce back starting with Sunday’s trip to Tallaght to take on Shamrock Rovers.
“The morale in the camp is fairly good,” said Curran, who joined Harps from neighbours Derry City in December.
“The positivity in the team is something I noticed straight away when I came here first and hopefully it will serve us well on Sunday.
“We’ve been able to get a few training sessions under our belts which we haven’t been able to do over the period of the three games.
“Having training and seeing the boys back at it has helped us to try and put those games behind us and look forward and move on.”
[adrotate group=”38″]The 22-year-old, whose father Paul Curran made over 500 appearances for Derry City as well as spending a year with Harps in the late 1980s, scored in a 2-2 draw on his return to The Brandywell earlier this month.
Horgan’s side memorably kicked off their first season back in the top flight since 2008 with a 2-1 victory over their North West rivals at a packed Finn Park while further victories against Longford Town and Bray Wanderers highlighted a solid start to the campaign.
Curran revealed that prior to the visit of Stephen Kenny’s side; the Harps’ dressing room was buoyant following that last-gasp equaliser in Derry during their previous outing.
“We were in good enough form before that run and after the Derry game we were in good shape going into the Dundalk game,” said the Harps frontman, who’s five goals sees him lead the club’s scoring stats.
“Obviously we were under no illusions how good Dundalk are but maybe by that stage we were starting to show some signs of tiredness.
“We’ve showed already this season in patches that we are definitely good enough to be in the league and to stay in this league.”
[adrotate group=”37″]A Gary McCabe penalty was the difference between the sides earlier this season as Rovers became the first side to take all three points from Ballybofey.
Harps, who currently sit in eighth place, have yet to register a win on the road this campaign and Curran understands the difficulty his side will face in ending that run against Pat Fenlon’s men.
“There are worse places to go than Tallaght where there’s a good stadium and a good pitch,” he said.
“But we’re under no illusions how good Shamrock Rovers are and we need to go down there and try and get a positive result and take it into the Sligo game.”
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