OLLIE HORGAN DOESN’T GIVE praise lightly, but the Finn Harps manager hailed his squad last night after their heroic play-off win over Limerick FC.
BJ Banda’s dramatic header, three minutes from the end of extra time, sent Finn Park wild, firing the club into the Premier Divison of the League of Ireland for the first time in seven seasons.
Last night, the club held an end-of-season presentation function at McGettigan’s Bar, Letterkenny, the club’s main sponsor.
Raymond Foy was named the Player of the Year and Tony McNamee was the recipient of the Young Player of the Year award.
Picture caption: Paddy Foy, representing his son Raymond, picks up the Player of the Year award from Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan and Finn Harps Chairman Sean Quinn. Picture courtesy of Gary Foy, newsandsportfiles
Foy played 27 times in 2015, scoring three goals. The Castlefin man had a consistent campaign in the Harps engine room.
McNamee only started in two games until the end of May, but was pretty much an ever-present thereafter and got better as the season reached its business end. In all, he played 28 times and, like Foy, netted three goals.
A good crowd of still-delerious supporters mingled with the still-jubilant players at the function, at which the players received their runners-up medals from Horgan.
In his second season as the manager, Horgan has returned Harps to the top flight of Irish football.
“We don’t give praise easily, as the players know, but they bought into what we tried to do and it was a hell of a mountain to climb,” Horgan said.
“I know the belief they had in themselves and I knew what they were capable of. The attention to detail in training and in matches was something else.”
Horgan’s mind wandered back to the opening night of the campaign and a 0-0 draw at Tolka Park as he recalled Friday’s scenes at a full-to-capacity Finn Park.
“I remember back at the first game of the season against Shelbourne up at Tolka Park, you could see that these people were crying out for something to support,” he said.
“In every game we played, no matter where we were, there were people there supporting us, whether it was Cabinteely, Cobh or Wexford. They are extremely loyal, week-in, week-out.
“That day in Tolka Park, I saw what was there – they wanted something to support and I think the lads have given them something.
“The amount of people who have shown appreciation to players and officials, it’s a very warm feeling. There was a huge amount of trust with us – and that played a big part in the season.”
Loyalty was a theme of the night when it came to Horgan’s address with the manager adding of his players: “Information didn’t leak out of our dressing room and we weren’t reading things on Twitter like was happening in other clubs. Loyalty was a big thing for us.
Aidan Campbell, the club’s Commerical Officer, spoke of the ‘incredible few days’ the club had experienced since Banda’s moment of magic less than 48 hours beforehand.
Emotional chairman Sean Quinn paid tribute to McGettigan’s – ‘they have been a huge help to us, especially in getting the season started, we couldn’t have done it without them’ – and thanked his fellow Board members, lotto sellers, shop workers, stewards, turnstile operators, ticket sellers, medical staff, match programme and website teams.
Quinn said: “We all know the work that Ollie has done here and we at Finn Harps have showed them that we can play football up here.
“We have a lot of work to do, but we will do that work. Finn Harps is based in Ballybofey, but we want Finn Harps to be a club for the North-West, We will go out there and get the help we need in the Premier Division.”
Picture caption: Finn Harps Young Player of the Year Tony McNamee pictured receiving his Award from team manager Ollie Horgan and Club Chairman Sean Quinn. Picture courtesy of Gary Foy, newsandsportfiles
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