Finn Harps will make their first appearance on live television this season tonight when they travel to face reigning champions Dundalk at Oriel Park (kick-off 8pm).
Dundalk whacked their County Louth neighbours Drogheda 6-0 last week, but it was already going to be a tough ask for Harps in any case.
That said, Ollie Horgan, the Harps manager, will welcome Ethan Boyle, Damien McNulty, Caolan McAleer and Danny Morrissey (pictured) back into his squad. The quartet missed last Friday’s 1-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers through suspension.
Horgan will be without Ciaran O’Connor, who is on loan to Harps from Dundalk, while Packie Mailey, Barry Molloy and Paddy McCourt are this week’s labelled ‘doubts’ in the team news.
“There is never a good time to play Dundalk and that’s especially true now,” Horgan said.
“They have hit top form again after that big win over Drogheda.
“We haven’t scored against them since coming back into the Premier Division and they gave us a real hiding in Ballybofey last season. We will be under savage pressure against the quality that they have.”
Dundalk were drawn against Rosenborg in this season’s Champions League qualifiers on Monday and, although Stephen Kenny’s men have an 18-point deficit to leaders Cork City at the top of the League table, the Lilywhites quality remains impressive.
Last week, David McMillan and Ciaran Kilduff bagged a brace each while former Derry City men Michael Duffy and Patrick McEleney got in on the act in their big win over Drogheda.
“That’s five clean sheets out of six that we have kept now,” Kenny, who lives in Fahan, said.
“The players are in good form and scoring goals. They are playing well at the minute and we came back after the break with a good win last week against Drogheda United.
“We have a great respect for Finn Harps certainly, they are a good team and we expect a tough game but we want to continue in the vein of form that we are in and that is our ambition going into this weekend.”
Tonight’s game will be televised by Eir Sport 2.
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