Ahead of the new SSE Airtricity League 2017 season, we caught up with Finn Harps defender Keith Cowan to see what he thinks ahead of the new campaign. Q: Keith, looking back on last season, you must have been delighted to help to secure survival in
Ahead of the new SSE Airtricity League 2017 season, we caught up with Finn Harps defender Keith Cowan to see what he thinks ahead of the new campaign. Q: Keith, looking back on last season, you must have been delighted to help to secure survival in the Premier Division? KEITH: Yeah, absolutely. It was a great feeling as it was our goal at the start of the season. We started really well but went through a difficult spell in the middle of the season. We turned it around in the end and put a few results together to go safe and it was great when we did that. Q: When you went through the difficult spell, was it a real test of character where you had to keep believing in yourselves? KEITH: Definitely. We went from one game to the next, not sure what we were doing wrong and we would look at ourselves in training, thinking if we had done enough in training. We agreed as a group that we were training better than we were before we went on that bad spell, the results just seemed to happen. There was a lot of experience in the dressing room last year like Barry Molloy and Kevin McHugh so we got through it in the end. Q: With all of that experience gained last year, what are the ambitions for next season? KEITH: I think we’ve got to look to do the same as last year and survive. With the league structure changing and the three going down, you’ve got to look at budgets and think in the same way in terms of survival. When it comes to the start though, we’re not going to be making any excuses about budgets and be fully focused on winning every game. We’ve got a job to do. Q: Finally, the opening game at Finn Park against Cork City, the FAI Cup holders, you must be really excited to get going? KEITH: No matter who we play against, it is going to be tough. When you look up and down the league, there is no easy games where you can see teams getting left behind. Everyone wants to do start well like us and I’m sure we’ll make it a tough test for Cork as well.
