Out-of-form Finn Harps will be hoping to give Finn Harps manager Darren Murphy a boost when they take on Cobh Ramblers in their SSE Airtricity League First Division clash with Cobh Ramblers in Ballybofey this evening (Friday).
The Donegal club is in a rut, having lost six games on the trot in all competitions, and having dropped out of the play-off places.
Last season, Harps were thumped 5-1 by Cobh when the side met for the fourth and final time in the league, and in the following days then manager Dave Rogers has stepped down from his role with the club citing “family and personal reasons”.
At the time, Harps had dropped to ninth in the table, a position that they remained in until the end of the season which marked their lowest ever finish.
Murphy took over from Rogers and has clearly relished the challenge at the club, despite the restricted budget.
Harps are safe from repeating that worst ever finish tag, and Portadown native Murphy has been long enough in the game to know that there is still time to avert gloom and doom.
He notes that there are still 24 points to play for and if they can get a couple of decent results they could still resurrect their chance of pushing for a play-off spot.
On the plus side, the team has a number of underage internationals and their time at Harps is very much in the stepping stone territory.
That said, he is both concerned yet typically honest about their present difficulties.
“The bad run will continue to continue if we continue to continue to give away the goals we do. It is quite simple. We have conceded too many goals, especially from set-pieces, we have given away too many poor goals,” he stated.
But he added: “I don’t sugar-coat things. We have defended poorly too many times in recent weeks.”
“It’s been a long season. I have said to the players that you can either re-group and go again and give yourselves a fighting chance of getting into the play-offs or you can just see the season out.”
Harps’ record against Cobh has been patchy in recent seasons, to say the least. Indeed, the Cork side have won all three games between the teams this season, and will be bidding for a first ever clean sweep of four wins over the Ballybofey-based team.
Cobh come to Finn Park in sixth spot, one point ahead of Harps and with two wins in their last three games.
Both sides really need the three points to keep up their promotion play-off ambitions. Defeat for Harps could see them up to nine points off the lowest play-off spots.
Murphy’s side really do need a morale boosting win.
Kick-off is 7.45 pm.