Soccer

Michael Funston: one of those 100 per cent men

Michael Funston played 335 games for Harps and scored 33 goals
Michael Funston played 335 games for Harps and scored 33 goals Michael Funston played 335 games for Harps and scored 33 goals

Former Donegal All-Ireland SFC winning manager Jim McGuinness will be forever associated with his county’s Croke Park triumph in 2012.

But before reaching those dizzy heights his coaching drills and scientific-like approach to the game saw him in a variety of roles, including a short stint coaching with Finn Harps back in 2006.

And as now-retired Harps player Michael Funston recalls, this was in an era when talk about diet and nutrition was only just seeping into the game.

Funston recalls how in his early days at Harps on an away trip to Dublin, they would call into the Greenmount Restaurant in Carrickmacross for pasta.

There was not much pressure on players during those days regarding what they ate.

“Players would have been a bit sceptical and sports science,” he says.

But Funston, who first played for the Ballybofey-based club in 2004, remembers how in 2006, the club went to Waterford for a three-day, pre-season training camp.

Former Linfield and Coleraine player Anthony Gorman had taken over Harps in a player-manager capacity, with the aim to get Harps promoted again, after being relegated in 2005.

And McGuinness clearly made an impression on Funston who was still very much one of the young up and coming players.

Nevertheless, Funston still reckons that it wasn’t until around 2010 that the looking-after-yourself mentality really took off.

Indeed, he quipped that now everyone has become so conscious of what you actually are eating all week that you could nearly get away with having a chicken box on match days.

Dungannon's Michael Funston celebrates scoring against Ballymena during an Irish Premier League game at Warden Street in Ballymena in March 2012. Picture by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press 
Dungannon's Michael Funston celebrates scoring against Ballymena during an Irish Premier League game at Warden Street in Ballymena in March 2012. Picture by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press  Dungannon's Michael Funston celebrates scoring against Ballymena during an Irish Premier League game at Warden Street in Ballymena in March 2012. Picture by Stephen Davison/Pacemaker Press 

Funston played 335 games for Harps - earning a place in the top 10 appearances charts for the Finnsiders - and scored some 33 goals before he bowed out of senior soccer in the summer of 2017.

Reflecting on his career, he has many fond memories and was fortunate to join as a teenager with the club on the up.

“Noel King watched me in a friendly against Institute and was happy enough,'' said Funston.

“I signed but only trained under him once and was not available on the following Saturday, and he then resigned.''

Felix Healy then came in and Funston's skill and youthful energy soon made him a regular in the team.

Harps won the Division One title. Life was good.

The next season saw Funston playing well but they were unable to avoid relegation.

“There is a massive gap in class between the Premier and Division One,” he notes.

And part of this, he feels, is down to the difference between the bigger clubs and the rest.

Aside from the geographical hindrances of being located in the north-west - and having far more travel - Funston says that a combination of little things can make a big difference: “You just don’t get the same recovery time if you are fitting in work. You mightn’t get a pre-match meal, you could be eating out of a lunch-box.”

Not having all the squad together can also be a factor, and time management is very important.

Funston was involved again as Harps got promotion in 2007, but once again they survived only one season in the top flight.

Having broken some ribs, and with confidence dipping, he was uncertain what to do. However, his career was rejuvenated when he joined Dungannon Swifts: “It was one of the best things that happened to me, they played a different brand of football and I really enjoyed it.”

But work commitments meant he could only train with them one night a week, and in 2012 he put pen to paper for Harps again, having been impressed by newly-installed manager, former Derry City legend, Peter Hutton.

Funston stayed with Harps until 2017, with the highlight being the promotion/relegation play-off in 2015.

Harps lost the first-leg 1-0 against a highly fancied Limerick, but won the second leg at Finn Park 2-0, with Funston getting the first goal.

Speaking of goals, Funston also has the distinction of scoring what is regarded as Harps’ fastest goal, just 14 seconds after kick-off in a win over Waterford in 2015.

His youthful energy may have lessened in recent years but his honesty and dedication made him a firm fans’ favourite.

He was one of those 100 per cent men, the type McGuinness would have readily nurtured along.

fans’ favourite. He was one of those 100% men, the type McGuinness would have readily nurtured along.