By Matthew Wilson
Finn Harps manager Kevin McHugh was delighted to get another three points on the board against Kerry FC on Friday night.
The two teams were level after a finely poised opening stanza but the home side pushed hard for a winner in Act Two.
Their continued pressure paid dividends in stoppage time as Max Hutchinson nodded the ball home deep in the 95th minute to seal the three points for the Navenny Street club.
“I thought overall we deserved the win”, said McHugh. “We definitely played on the front foot and we created a lot of chances in the first half. Their ‘keeper was tested way more than ours and we played on the front foot and we got the penalty.
“Sometimes at that stage when you don’t score the penalty at that stage of the game it can turn against you. So I have to give the players huge credit there and Joel (Bradley-Walsh) himself, he picked himself up.
“We kept pushing and eventually we opened the door at the end. It was a great ball from Gavin (McAteer) and brilliant header from Max (Hutchinson).”
Following a challenging month of April on the pitch for Finn Harps, where they failed to register a win, they’ve now recorded two successive First Division victories.
This is a reward for the group’s continued commitment and their fortunes have now turned around.
The Finn Park residents are now positioned just three points outside of the play-off places and they’ll be seeking to make it three wins on the bounce when they travel to face Treaty United this Friday.
Speaking after the match, the Finn Harps boss, pictured below, discussed the competitiveness of the First Division this term and stated that they’re just pleased to have two successive wins on the board.
“We sound like a broken record now but it’s so tight, nobody would’ve been at all shocked if Kerry had snuck a 1-0 win. Thankfully, we got it and turned the scales on our end this week.
“It’s so tight, everybody has good players and everybody has good squads from Longford the whole way up. We keep preaching it to the players, if you’re off by ten percent in any department then teams will sniff you out and punish you.
“That’s what happened to us over that three or four week period where we couldn’t get a win or maybe a draw. So we’re really delighted to get back-to-back wins.”
