Kevin McHugh bagged his first goal of the season as Finn Harps recorded their first win of the Premier Division campaign with a 1-0 victory over UCD.

McHugh capitalised on a defensive error to pounce after just four minutes and steer the ball past Darren Quigley.

But the students could have taken the lead in the first minute when Tony McDonnell headed a corner against the post.


Chris Breen had two great chances to get a second for Felix Healy's side, but UCD went close to getting an equaliser on several occasions and Harps had to thank goalkeeper Gavin Cullen for making a number of fine saves in the second half.



At long last we won a game! Finn Harps are no longer bettom after Shamrock rovers lost 8 points, we now have 5 points and they have 1.

Ill post all the latest news and results here

Drogheda 1-0 Finn Harps

Jermaine Sandvliet hit the only goal of a one-sided affair against Finn Harps as Drogheda made it nine matches unbeaten.

The Dutchman struck on 56 minutes to break Harps' resolve when shooting home from long range after the visitors had failed to clear a corner.


Prior to that, it had proved a very frustrating night for Drogheda as Harps got nine men behind the ball with just Kevin McHugh their lone striker.

Finn Harps manager Felix Healy has followed up on his promise to strengthen the squad by signing former Sunderland defender Stephen Capper.

Healy revealed at the weekend that he needed to bring two or three players and the capture of the experienced Capper is seen as a major coup for the Donegal side.

The former Republic of Ireland Under-21 international has been out of football since last summer, when he was released by Scarborough Town.

Healy is delighted to have a player of his experience and versatility at the club as Harps make a bid to avoid relegation.

“Stephen is a very experienced player despite being relatively young. I’ve been speaking to him for four months and would have had him during the transfer window but he had an injury,” said Healy.

“He can link up with us immediately and it’s a good signing as he is very versatile. He can play in either the full back position or anywhere across midfield.”

Bray Wanderers bounced back from four defeats on the trot by beating Finn Harps 2-1 in a poor game at Finn Park in the eircom Premier Division tonight.

Bray opened the scoring on 18 minutes with Kieran 'Tarzan' O'Brien sliding the ball past Gavin Cullen after Anthony Gorman lost possession for Harps in midfield.

And Pat Devlin's side struck again eight minutes later with Eamon Zayed surging into the box and crossing for Philip Keogh to tuck the ball home from close range.


Harps enjoyed a good spell before the interval and Bray 'keeper Chris O'Connor did well to deny both Chris Breen and Stephen Capper.

Wesley Charles had to clear off the line for the visitors early in the second half before Kevin McHugh gave Harps hope with a fine goal on 67 minutes from just inside the box.

But Bray held on for a deserved win which leaves them joint sixth while the Donegal club remain second bottom with just one win from the first series of games.

Finn Harps lost again today, this time against Sligo Rovers in the league cup.
Alvarez scored the only goal after 79 minutes.

Finn Harps 'surprisingly' lost today against Cork City. Reading bound Kevin Doyle got both goals in the 1st half to put Cork clear at the top. Harps are still in deep relegation trouble with one win all year.
Its not looking good for us at the moment, we just keep losing...

It sounds like your having a tough season. What is the biggest weakness in the side? What sort of money do they have and what sort of players are they able to attract in relation to the English leagues?

We are not having a great season, we are 2nd from bottom and we are only there as the bottom team were deducted points.
The weakness in the team is surprisingly attacking, we have 2 good strikers Kevin McHugh who usually scores plenty but he hasnt done it this season. Chris breen is another striker, he won young player of the year last term but again hasnt done it this year.

As for money, pretty much none, the club are saving money for a new stadium so its only free signings we make.
We usually attract decent players to the club, only last week we signed an Ireland u21 international from Sunderland-Steven Capper

What is the quality of football like in relation to the English Leagues? Is it to League 1/2 standard or more like Conference Standard?

Its good that you have an interest in your home league. I unfortunately cannot stand the Welsh League, and have never bothered with it. Its a shame really.

The quality isnt too bad, for the top clubs like Shelbourne and Cork City I would say its about league 1 standard but for Finn Harps its about League 2 standard.
We were only promoted to the Premier League last year so hopefully if we survive this year we can establish the club in the top league and mabye in a few years make it to the UEFA Cup

That would definately be an acheivement. It will be extremely difficult to get through the qualifiers though

Yeah, but even getting knocked out in the qualifiers I would be reasonably happy. We nearly made it a few years ago when we finished 5th and got to the FAI Cup final. But we needed to finish 4th for Europe and we lost the final. Following season we got relegated!

Lol well maybe its about time for your luck to change. Do you go to see them live much?

Not too much recently, I went to most home games at the start of the season but I havent really had the time recently.

Finn Harps' eircom League Under-21 side are back in action this weekend as they bid to defend the Connaught/Ulster League title they won last year.

Longford Town are the visitors to Finn Park on Sunday for this season's opening fixture.

Manager Eddie Seydak has retained most of last year's squad and has added a number of new faces in a bid to go one step forward this season.


Last year, Harps were knocked out of the League competition at the semi-final stage by UCD.

Finn Harps beat Killkenny City yesterday in the FAI Cup 2nd round, only their 2nd win since February.
Killkenny are bottom of the first division and it took a Kevin McHugh goal 6 minutes from time to win the game 1-0.
Im not too bothered about how we won, at least we finally have won a game. Into the 3rd round now!

Another win for Finn Harps yesterday!
Only their 2nd league win of the season. 2-0 against Waterford. We are off the bottom of the table now again so hopefully we can stay off it now.
Kevin McHugh scored the first and Eloka Asukah scored the second, his first ever goal for the club.

I hope they can stay up!

You have made me like Finn Harps!

Thanks Shaggy!!
We won again tonight. Its looking good now, 3 wins in a row.
We beat Shamrock Rovers 4-1 to go 5 points clear of them at the bottom. McHugh, Breen, McGrenaghan and Capper scored for Harps

Well, we lost this week...
2-0 against St Pats(Colm on CmFrenzys team!). Shamrock Rovers lost too so were still 5 clear. Not too bad then..