Shaun McGowan in action against Mervue. Photo: Gary Foy
By Aidan O’Donnell in Galway
FINN Harps will assess the fitness of Shaun McGowan and Sean McCarron this week after the duo were forced off in the second half of Friday night’s dramatic 2-2 draw against Mervue United in Galway.
Harps produced an energetic second-half display to fight-back from 2-0 down but their heroic efforts looks like they have come at a cost.
McGowan, who made his 200th appearance for Harps last week, limped off with an ankle injury barely a minute after Kevin McHugh struck the equalising goal from the penalty spot and manager Peter Hutton fears he may have sustained ligament damage.
Meanwhile, McCarron, who has hit the ground running with three goals so far this season, was forced off just after the hour mark with an excruciating calf strain.
“At the moment, Sean is barely able to walk and ‘Wizzy’ (McGowan) tried to play on but he couldn’t do it so he had to come off. His ankle is a bit swollen so it could be ligament damage but we’ll assess both over the course of the week,” Hutton said afterwards.
The Harps boss also had to withdraw winger Marc Brolly, who, for the second week in a row, battled courageously despite not being anywhere near 100 per cent.
“Marc was shattered with the effects of the flu. He seems to have a chest infection and he just ran out of steam,” said Hutton.
“To be fair to the boys, they put in a tremendous shift and nobody can fault their work ethic or commitment. Sometimes we just need to be brighter in certain areas – defensively in our latter third we have to be more ruthless in terms of not giving away silly chances and in the final third we have to be better in our decision making.”
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