FINN HARPS and Bray Wanderers will lock horns again for the first time since 2008 when they meet in Friday’s Premier Division clash at Finn Park, Ballybofey (kick-off 8pm).
They may be relative strangers to each other these days but, during the late 1980s and '90s, the two clubs engaged in some titanic battles. Bray were actually a bogie team for Harps, who went 15 games without beating them in the early years of the First Division. Then the tide swung in Bray’s favour under Pat Devlin, with the Wicklow side recording their finest moment over their Donegal opponents in 1999, when they won the FAI Cup final after a second replay.
Bray were once classed as a 'yo-yo' team, with promotion or relegation invariably up fror grabs at the end of most seasons from the formation of the First Division in 1985 until the millennium. In more recent times, Harps have cast an envious eye at the seasiders. Bray have punched above their weight for a relatively small club. They are in the top flight for the 12th successive season.
Now managed by Mick Cooke, Bray have had some scrapes to survive in the Premier Division and have made a poor start to the season, with only one win in seven outings. If Harps can win on Friday night, they will move some six points ahead of Bray. Conversely, if they lose, the sides will be level on seven points each.
Bluntly speaking, this is the sort of game Harps will feel they need to win to remain a Premier Division side at the end of the campaign: “We have 26 games left,” said manager Ollie Horgan, “so it’s a little early in the season for six pointer games."
"Bray have loads of experience in their squad. They may not have made the best of starts to the season, but they showed recently against Sligo Rovers [they won 4-0] how dangerous a side they can be.”
Horgan continued: “Bray are a full-time side and I saw them up in the Carlisle Grounds on Saturday night [they lost 2-0 to Bohemains] and, while they got beaten, they possibly could have been one or two goals up.”
Having lost two games in-a-row, against Galway United and St Patrick’s Athletic, this game takes on added importance for Harps. They will again be without the injured trio of Josh Mailey, Raymond Foy and Barry Molloy. Damien McNulty, Dave Scully and Ethan Boyle all suffered knocks during Monday’s game against St Pat’s and are doubtful.
When the sides last met, Harps won 1-0 at the Carlisle Grounds, with Stephen Parkhouse grabbing the winner. Interestingly, veteran striker Kevin McHugh is the only survivor from the Harps' 1999 FAI Cup final panel, while the centre-half that day, Gavin Dykes, is now assistant manager to Horgan.
This will be the 55th meeting of the two clubs. Both clubs have won 18 previous encounters, while there have been 18 draws. Now, that’s evenly matched.
