Finn Harps (1) - St Patrick's Athletic (0)

Match Report

Finn Harps 1 - St Patrick's Athletic 0

Finn Harps gained revenge for Friday's SSE Airtricity League Premier Division defeat against St Patrick's Athletic by knocking the Inchicore side out of the Extra.ie FAI Cup tonight at the first hurdle with a 1-0 win.

Ollie Horgan, the Harps manager, may well have preferred the three points having seen his team lose five matches on the bounce, but at least can be content with the scalp that came courtesy of Ryan Connolly's fifth minute winner.

Conor Kearns was making his debut for Stephen O'Donnell's team but the goalkeeper and Rory Feely both committed to dealing with a delivery from Karl O'Sullivan and having failed to sort the danger, saw Connolly grab what proved to be the only goal of the game.

O'Donnell left Georgie Kelly, a Donegal native who scored both goals in a 2-0 home win at Richmond Park, on the bench. Kelly was one of five switches, although he would see action after the break.

Harps began well and newly-signed Stephen Folan tested Kearns from a free-kick. However, the visitors felt their way into things and Dan Ward and then Martin Rennie, from a free-kick too, brought the hosts' goalkeeper Mark Anthony McGinley into the fray.

Robbie Benson, another substitute along with Craig Forrester, also brought a save from McGinley in the Harps goal, although chances were few and far between.

But all in all, the St Pat's supporters who, having made the long trek to the north-west, watched through the Finn Park fence with a handful of locals, would have been frustrated with their team's continued inconsistencies.

© rte.ie

Match Info

Date: 10/08/2020
Competition: FAI Cup
Round: FirstRound
Venue: Finn Park

Home Team

Mark Anthony McGinley; Dave Webster, Kosovar Sadiki, Stephen Folan, Sam Todd; Karl O'Sullivan, Ruairi Harkin (Mark Coyle 78), Leo Donnellan, Adrian Delap; Ryan Connolly (Tony McNamee 88); Raffaele Cretaro (Mark Russell 69).

Away Team

Conor Kearns; David Titov (James Doona 73), Rory Feely, Dan Ward (Robbie Benson 53), Ian Bermingham; Jamie Lennon, Luke McNally, Jordan Gibson, Jason McClelland; Darragh Markey (Chris Forrester 53); Martin Rennie (Georgie Kelly 53).