Tough task for Longford Town against improving Finn Harps in Ballybofey

Longford Town make the long journey to Ballybofey on Friday to play Finn Harps (kick-off 7.45pm) and the Donegal side are doing very well under new manager Kevin McHugh who took the job around three months ago. 

As we go to print Harps are one of the form teams in the First Division and after picking up eight points in their last four games, they are being tipped as outsiders for a play-off spot. 

After last weekend’s games Harps, by virtue of a resounding 1-0 victory over Treaty United, have moved a point ahead of the Town and away from the dreaded bottom position.

 Recent results have gone very well for Harps as they also beat Dundalk in Finn Park the previous week.

Harps drew 1-1 with Wexford at Finn Park and the previous weekend they drew 0-0 away to Athlone Town. 

 In the last four games a young winger Gradi Lomboto scored three goals in games against Treaty United, Dundalk and Wexford which amassed seven points for the Donegal club.

Lomboto, who previously played with Galway United  under 19s, has been a revelation for manager Kevin McHugh who is a legend up in Donegal having played for the team for many years. 

Three clean sheets in their last four games shows that manager McHugh has tightened up his defence.

Like the Town Harps are working on a small budget and are looking for bargains from other clubs on loan.

Harps have a mix of youth and experience and in Tony McNamee and David Cawley they have two very experienced players who have a lot of Premier Division experience while defender Conor Tourish is another player with vast experience. 

There is no doubt that Harps will be a tough nut to crack and particularly so at Finn Park.  

The first meeting between the clubs this season in early April at Finn Park ended 1-1. Aaron Doran gave the Town the lead after 26 minutes and it looked as if it was enough to win the three points but J Bradley-Walsh scored for the home side when he equalised in 90 + 6 mins. 

The fact that Harps had K Jordan sent off on 66 mins and his teammates fought to the final whistle to pick up a point was a big boost.

The teams met in Bishopsgate in mid May and on that occasion the game ended scoreless. So it’s honours even this season but it was completely different last season when Finn Harps had the bragging rights. 

Harps won three of the games and the other game ended in a draw. Harps came to Bishopsgate in mid February and they went  home with three points from a 3-2 victory.

The next game was played at Finn Park and that game also finished 3-2. 

The next game was played in Bishopsgate and it ended in a 1-1 draw.

The final meeting between the clubs was at Finn Park and this was a very close encounter and the game was decided from the penalty spot. Edogun scored from the spot to give the home side all three points. 

Reading an article from Kevin McHugh recently he was talking about standards of officials in the league. He took over as manager at Harps 13 weeks ago and since then his team have picked up 33 yellow cards and one red card. 

The ref on Saturday night last against UCD was poor to say the least and he dished out some outrageous yellow cards. 

One wonders if the referees inspector who covered the game report what he saw in a game that was end to end stuff. 

The Town fielded the same starting eleven that started the game against near neighbours Athlone on the previous Monday. 

One has to say that the performance against the students wasn’t as good as that against Athlone and the visitors just about deserved their victory but the recent Town team didn’t perform on Saturday. 

Sean Brennan in midfield controlled the game for long periods but the Town could have picked up something out of the game and need to be more ruthless in front of goal. 

After losing to a good UCD side the Town are now down to 9th in the table and we need to pick up points on Friday and the following weekend against Kerry at Bishopsgate. 

The Town are a part-time club, unlike UCD who train full time and you could see that they were finishing a lot stronger. 

Harps will be a different challenge and it will be another testing night and Lomboto will need to be closely watched. 

A win on Friday would mean that the Town will move ahead of Harps in the table and with Kerry coming on Saturday week we have two games coming up that are winnable.