Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan believes that while UCD should go on to claim first place in this year’s SSE Airtricity League First Division, his side still have plenty to play for in the remainder of the season. A 3-1 victory over Athlone Town on
Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan believes that while UCD should go on to claim first place in this year’s SSE Airtricity League First Division, his side still have plenty to play for in the remainder of the season. A 3-1 victory over Athlone Town on Friday night meant that Harps retained second position in the table, leaving them in the ideal spot to claim a play-off place. “Look UCD are home and hosed to be fair to them. They are the best side in it, they beat us home and away,” Horgan said. “Whatever chance we had… of catching UCD, we let that go the game before the break when they beat us 3-1 at home. They are a serious side. Should we get to the play-off, at least we won't be playing UCD in it. “But that’s if we get there, we are not home yet. We have three serious games left. You look at Cabinteely, we have them the last game of the season and they are a proper proper side, you just look at how the result went tonight (Cabinteely drew 2-2 with Drogheda). “We also have Galway in a couple of weeks who are a proper full-time side, and we go to UCD in the middle of it. So we have to pick up points there to try and get into the top four, but if we got into fourth place then yeah we would say ‘ok we have achieved something’, but we need to get there first.” Finn Harps fell behind early in their clash with Athlone via a set-piece, but two goals from Nathan Boyle and a fantastic strike from captain Keith Cowlan were enough to seal the three points. There was a noticeable upturn in their second half performance, and Horgan believes the weather conditions played a factor. “To be honest the wind factor was massive. That wind was going straight down the pitch, and it’s only before the game and at half time when you're out in the middle of it that you realise it was going straight down. “It was a matter of getting your noses ahead, and thankfully we did ten or fifteen minutes into the second half. Thankfully from there on I felt it was the only time we were comfortable.”
