Longford Town seek first win but Finn Harps will be a tough nut to crack

The new look Harps team are now being managed by former Shelbourne player Dave Rogers. 

Harps are on two points in the table with draws against Bray and Wexford and they lost 2-1 at home to Galway United, the Harps goal coming from a penalty by Ryan Rainey. 

The Donegal club lost away to Athlone Town on a 3-1 scoreline and Rainey was their goalscorer again from the penalty spot. 

Finn Harps raised a few eyebrows when they introduced their new manager to the Irish media.

 They have given Rogers a 4 year deal and the club will be full time which is very surprising due to the situation in clubs trying to pay wages for ten weeks during the off season. 

Supporters will remember Rogers from his time with Shelbourne where he won three league titles as a no nonsense defender. 

Shels supporters will recall him fondly because of his wonder goal against Hajduk Split at a packed Tolka Park back in 2004. 

Rogers finished playing in 2011 and then went into coaching having been with Liverpool as head of the club's international academy, operating mainly in India.

Getting a four year contract by ambitious Finn Harps gives him a chance to put his mark on the club and the fact that all his squad are in Donegal gives the club a great boost in the soccer mad county.

 In their opening home game against table toppers Galway they had over 2500 supporters in Finn Park where they generated a fantastic atmosphere against another of the full time First Division clubs. 

There is no doubt that this Harps team will improve with full time training but it will not happen overnight, especially that he is working from a totally new squad in something similar to Stephen Henderson here. 

One player who will need no introduction to the league is central defender Keith Cowan who has returned to the club from Premier side Drogheda United. 

The centre half may be in the twilight of his career at age 37 but he will help out the many young players in the squad. 

19 year old defender Ellis Farrar comes in from Stockport County as does striker Daniel Okwute and he is also 19 years old. 

An interesting name in the team is Ryan Flood, the American who plays at left back. Seamus Keogh has joined the club from Sligo Rovers. 

Noe Baba is a versatile player who can play in defence or midfield who has played with many clubs worldwide since starting out with Castlebar Celtic 10 years ago. Noe is a very talented player.  

Keeper Tim-Oliver Hiemer is a 28 year old German who signed this season. 

There are quite a few players on loan from Derry City and they are all around the 19/20 year mark.

 To date Harps have scored three goals and the scorers are Ryan Rainey (2 penalties) and Ryan Flood. 

When you look at the results for the Town and Harps one can't see too many goals in the game on Saturday night but looking back at our four games to date one would have to say that Longford have been very unlucky in attack.

Stephen Henderson has done a great job with his new look squad and with a bit of luck the Town's front men will start to put the ball in the back of the net on a regular basis. 

The Longford Town manager Henderson named the same starting eleven that started the goal-less draw against Cobh Ramblers the previous weekend but he had to plan without Derek Daly and Cristian Magerusan who are still out injured. 

A bit of good news for the manager is the fact that James Doona has been on the bench for the last two weeks and he replaced Mohammed Boudiaf in the 68th minute, having replaced Josh Giurgi against Cobh in the 85th minute. 

There is no doubt that those 3 players (Doona, Daly and Magerusan) would make a big improvement in the squad as they are all experienced players who have an abundance of experience in the Premier and First Division.

After the opening day defeat against Athlone, Stephen Henderson has steadied the ship and the arrival of Cian Byrne and Gary Armstrong has been a great help to him. 

As a club that has been relegated from the Premier Division last season, Harps will be expected to be that much stronger than the Town's young but talented players but hopefully a home win might materialise on Saturday night. 

SSE Airtricity League First Division

Longford Town V Finn Harps

at Bishopsgate 

Saturday March 18

Kick off 7.30pm 

Car Boot Sale

At Bishopsgate (N39 NX43)

On Friday March 17

Gates open at 5am