THE 112th meeting of Sligo Rovers and Finn Harps won’t be forgotten in a hurry after the game was abandoned because of partial floodlight failure on Saturday night.
Ollie Horgan’s Harps had just leveled them game through Damien McNulty after Sligo’s Chris Lyons opened the scoring.
Here are five things we learned at The Showgrounds:
- Harps battle to earn impressive point…
FINN HARPS, buoyed on by a vociferous couple of hundred traveling supporters in a crowd of 2,238 at The Showgrounds, showed plenty of spirit and fight to earn a share of the spoils.
Granted, they, as Ollie Horgan reminded us afterwards, ‘rode their luck’ in the first half when Sligo Rovers could have sewn the game up.
It took an inspired display by Harps goalkeeper Richard Brush to keep his former club at bay in the first half. A string of saves by Brush ensured that Harps stayed in with a chance.
Brush denied Kieran Sadlier twice and Jordan Richards, with excellent saves, while Harps survived when Gavin Peers had Brush beaten, with his brilliant header flying past the far post.
Chris Lyons’s 11th minute goal was all that Sligo could muster and Harps brought themselves back in thanks to Damien McNulty’s wonderful equaliser.
Liam Flatley’s endeavour down the right channel was vital and Harps won a corner that was swept back across goal by Tony McNamee when only partially cleared. The flick on by Packie Mailey, the volley by McNulty and the bedlam in the away section greeted the winning of a precious point.
- …or did they?
JUST four minutes after McNulty’s volley flew past Micheál Schlingermann, The Showgrounds fell into partial darkness. 32 of the ground’s 48 floodlights flicked off and referee Padraigh Sutton paused the game, with 86 minutes gone on his stopwatch.
Sutton and the players stood around for about 15 minutes. The match official liaised with both managers before he blew the final whistle and everyone in the ground was plunged into a state of confusion: ‘What now?’ the popular question around the ground.
The answer to that is still unknown.
The Football Association will review the reports of Sutton and their match delegate, Paul Doherty, today before making a call on what happens next.
Harps secretary John Campbell was in touch with leading FAI officials on Saturday night and it seems that their choice is either to let the result stand or to replay the game in its entirety.
Were the latter to be ordered, you can surely expect Harps to reach strongly given that only four minutes remained at the time of the stoppage.
- Coll’s recovery so important for Harps
WHEN the teamsheets dropped around an hour before the kick-off, the big talking point was the inclusion of Ciaran Coll in the Harps XI.
Eight evenings previously, the St Johnston man left Oriel Park on a stretcher, leaving Harps manager Ollie Horgan, team mates and supporters fearing the worst.
Coll was on crutches for the next four days and wore a protective brace on his left knee. It was a sight that didn’t look good for a player who had previously injured the cruciate in the same knee.
The worries were there that the left-back had sustained ligament damage and could have been looking at months on the sidelines.
However, an MRI scan came back clear during the week and Coll was given the green light to resume action.
“We were delighted when it came back clear – we need Ciaran,” said Horgan.
Coll showed his worth with a determined display and one tackle to take the ball off Liam Martin in the box was evidence, if indeed it were needed, of how important Coll is to the Harps cause.
- McNulty pulls it out of the fire
DAMIEN McNulty laughed that he’d be recording Soccer Republic tonight, but the Harps defender would certainly be entitled to milk the moment.
McNulty had only scored five Harps goals in 78 appearances prior to the trip to Sligo on Saturday night.
McNulty admitted that substitute Kevin McHugh – who has managed 185 goals in his time – was screaming for him to ‘leave it’ when Tony McNamee’s cross was flicked their way by Packie Mailey.
McNulty had already eyed up his target and his finish was exactly like the destination: top drawer.
A perfectly-timed and superbly controlled volley gave Micheál Schlingermann no chance in the Sligo goal.
It could be said, perhaps, the strike was so good it shot the lights out!
- Robertson gets no honeymoon period at Sligo
FOUR games into the new season and the natives in Sligo are already restless.
Their team could have been out of sight by the time half-time came, but they weren’t as a combination of Richard Brush’s goalkeeping and some wayward shooting ensured that only Chris Lyons’s goal stood between the teams.
Sligo managed to prise themselves away from relegation trouble at the tail end of 2015, but even though they appointed former Peterborough United manager Dave Robertson in the winter, things aren’t looking too rosy for the Bit O’Red.
They’ve only two draws to show for their endeavours so far and as the second half went on, the home crowd began to voice their displeasure at the lack of changes being made by Roberston.
It is clear that they expect more of the Englishman’s team.
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