FINN Harps defender Conor Tourish insists that it’s vital for the side to keep kicking on as they prepare for a trip to Longford Town this Friday in the League of Ireland First Division.

Finn Harps stretched their unbeaten run to five matches last Friday night courtesy of a narrow 1-0 win over Treaty United at Finn Park.

The win over the Limerick based side has reduced the gap to the play-off spots to just a single point with seven games left in the league campaign.

It was three points that Harps had to battle hard for and Tourish stated that it was a great result for the group.

“It probably wasn’t the greatest game of to watch but result wise, it was a great result for us. It was one of those ones that you just have to just grind out. I think we might’ve been able to score another one in the first half and settle that little bit more.”

It’s been an excellent campaign to date for the Letterkenny native at the heart of the Finn Harps defence.

The centre-half has started the last 12 games in all competitions and has constructed a superb partnership with Joel Bradley Walsh at the back.

They have contributed greatly to Harps’ recent run, keeping six clean sheets in this 12-game spell.

After a frustrating season with injuries last year, Tourish is delighted to have been able to get more game time under his belt this time around.

“I didn’t play nearly as much as I wanted to last year, I was in and out with injury and it was frustrating. I’ve had one setback this year but I’ve played more this season already than I did the whole of last year. In that sense it’s great. Joel’s been the same, he’s come in and been really solid at the back. I think we compliment each other well, we sort of struck it up when I came back from injury so long may it continue.”

Off the back of last weekend’s vital victory, Finn Harps travel to Bishopsgate this Friday to face Longford Town where they’ll look to extend their unbeaten record to six games.

Wayne Groves’ side are positioned three places below Finn Harps in the First Division table, sitting in ninth spot. However, they’ve proved a sticky opposition for the Finn Park residents this season with the pair drawing all three of their encounters to date.

Kevin McHugh’s outfit will be without Josh Cullen, Gavin McAteer and Corey Sheridan for the trip to Bishopsgate with the trio receiving call-ups to Colin O’Brien’s Republic of Ireland Under-17 squad.

Tourish expressed that it’s going to be a tough game when they take on the Longford outfit this Friday night, especially without the three youngsters on international duty but he stated that it’s great for the club to see players going on to achieve this.

“The three lads have come in this year and have been brilliant. They’ll be a miss but it’s the direction the club’s going with boys coming through like that so it’s great to see”, said Tourish.

He continued, “it’s not going to be easy, we’ve played Longford three times and we’ve drawn all three times. It’s never an easy game and it’s tough down there too. They’re a decent team and they’re improving year on year so it’ll be another big game on Friday night.

After seeing the gap to the play-off positions close from ten points down to just one point in recent weeks, it’s crucial that Harps continue to push on and apply the pressure to the teams above.

Tourish discussed that the group still aren’t content with where they’re at, feeling that they still have more to offer and hopes they can kick on for the remainder of the campaign.

“We’ve cut the gap but at the end of the day we’re still outside the play-offs so there’s no point in closing the gap if we’re still sitting outside it at the end of the season.”

“It’s vital now that we keep kicking on from where we’re at. We’re still not happy with the place that we’re at, I think we can still improve in different areas and keep getting better and hopefully we can kick on and keep going until the end of the season.”