OLLIE HORGAN, the Finn Harps manager, belives that he’s lost the ‘best player’ in his dressing room with the departure of his assistant, James Gallagher.
Last Friday, Gallagher confirmed in a statement to Donegal Sport Hub that was unable to continue in the role because of ‘personal reasons’.
Gallagher was the Harps goalkeeper in 2004 when, under Felix Healy’s management, he kept 19 clean sheets in the First Division-winning campaign.
Gallagher managed Harps from 2009 to 2011.
Horgan recruited him again in December 2013 as ‘senior coach’ and he was the assistant manager in 2015 as Harps won promotion to the Premier Division.
“James Gallagher is a massive loss to us,” Horgan said.
“Do not underestimate his importance or his value.
“It feels a bit like we’ve lost our best player. That is how highly I rate what James did with us. He is brilliant at what he does. I knew about this a couple of weeks ago and I tried to convince him.
“I would go as far as to say that we would not have got promotion without James’s input.”
