Finn Harps F.C.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Finn Harps | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Finn Harps Football Club |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | "The Harps" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1954 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Finn Park, Ballybofey, County Donegal |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 7,900 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Sean Quinn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Paul Hegarty | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | Eircom First Division | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | 6th in First Division (Not Promoted) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finn Harps F.C. is an Irish football club playing in the Football League of Ireland. The club, founded in 1954 and elected to the league in 1969, hails from Ballybofey, Co Donegal and play their home matches at Finn Park. There have been attempts to move the club to Letterkenny as it is Donegal's largest town and has a bigger population with room to build a massive stadium. Club colours are blue and white, and go by the nickname The Harps. The current manager is Paul Hegarty, who took the job on December, 2006 after the previous manager, Anthony Gorman, had left the club at the end of the 2006 season. This so called yo-yo club got relegated at the end of the 2005 season after only one season in top flight football. Derry City is their local rival. The club works in close collaboration with Letterkenny Rovers F.C., often signing young players who have blossomed at the amateur club. However, they also maintain links with Derry City, with whom they share a good relationship. A friendly rivalry is maintained between the two clubs, yet both have encountered times of trouble in recent years. They have often been helped by the other in this regard. Their success cannot be said to have occurred without the help and love of the other. Phil Coulter, in particular, is known as a fan of both sides, and has been instrumental in keeping them as operational football clubs.
Contents |
[edit] History
Finn Harps was formed in 1954 as a junior club. It first came to national prominence by winning the FAI Junior Cup in 1968. This enabled it to play in the FAI Intermediate Cup in 1969. After they were knocked out of that competition Fran Fields and Patsy McGowan took the decision to apply to the Football League of Ireland for membership. The club was admitted into the senior ranks in May of 1969 and Harps were due to play their first senior game on 17 August 1969.
Harps were soundly beaten by ten goals to two in that match by Shamrock Rovers and there was much comment in the following week, that the club were not up to the task and it had been a foolish decision by the League to accept a team from County Donegal. However, during the seventies Finn Harps went on to become one of the top sides in the country.
Harps won their first senior trophy, the Dublin City Cup in 1971/2, when a Brendan Bradley goal defeated Cork Hibernians in Dalymount Park. Two years later Dalymount Park was again the scene of Harps first (and to date only) FAI Cup Final win. Two goals from Brendan Bradley and one by Charlie Ferry seeing off the challenge of St Patricks Athletic.
Four times during the 1970s Harps played European football. Three times as runners up in the League Championship, playing in the UEFA Cup against Aberdeen, Derby County and Everton. Once in the European Cup Winners Cup when they appeared against Turkish Cup winners Bursaspor.
Harps also finished runners up in the League Cup finals of 1974 and 1975 to Waterford and Bohemians respectively. Throughout the seventies Harps never once finished in the bottom half of the table and were widely respected for their attractive and attacking football style.
Sadly the eighties saw a gradual decline of the club in terms of competing with the best in Ireland. An FAI Cup semi final in 1981 and a FAI Shield final defeat by EMFA (now Kilkenny City) were the highlights of the decade and by 1985 the club had been relegated to the newly formed first division. A series of managerial changes were effected over the next few years in an attempt to raise the club but it wasn’t until the early 90s that Harps once again began to become a force to be reckoned with.
Patsy McGowan stepped in as manager for the third time at the start of the 1992/93 season. The next three seasons saw Harps finish in the play off position twice. Sadly, Harps were beaten both times, once by Cobh Ramblers and once by Athlone Town. Patsy was let go by the club before the job could be completed, but Harps went on to win promotion at the end of the 1995/96 season. Thus ending eleven seasons in the first division.
During the summer a consortium of business men attempted to take control at Finn Park, and when this offer was finally rejected it led to resignations of the manager and certain members of the club committee. Charlie McGeever was appointed manager and despite time being against him, he managed to assemble a squad for the opening of the season and by the seasons end he ensured that Harps Premier Division status was retained.
Off the field the remaining committee members, set the club up as a Co-Operative Society, selling shares to the ordinary supporters, to ensure that the Club would be owned (and run) by the people who truly cared about it. A blueprint for the future was put in place that will include a school of excellence for the young Donegal footballers. Major plans for the renovation of Finn Park were also included in the blueprint, and certain sections of the work have already got underway.
In their third season in the Premier division Harps finished in fourth position, one point behind Shels in third, just missing out on Europe. More notably however they made the FAI Cup final against Bray Wanderers. After a marathon series of matches Bray won leaving Finn Harps with nothing to show for possibly their best season ever but the Irish News Cup.
After a very disappointing start to their fourth season having only one point from a possible twenty one Charlie Mc Geever resigned. Gavin Dykes was installed as caretaker manager.
Harps then had a number of managers over the coming seasons; Jonathan Speak, Noel King & Felix Healy all managed the side until the previous manager Anthony Gorman took over following Felix Healy's departure during the relegation season of 2005. Gorman left the club following the 2006 season as his attempts to lead the club to promotion failed. They have recently put all of their players up for sale due to financial difficulties and are struggling in the lower half of the Eircom First Division.
Anthony Gorman left the club at the end of the 2006 campaign after a poor season. There has been speculation that Derry City's assistant manager Paul Hegarty will take the vacant post, but the most likely candidate is current assistant manager, Pascal Vaudequin
[edit] Rivalry
Finn Harps share a friendly rivalry with their neighbours in the North-West, Derry City F.C. The most exciting encounter between the two sides was perhaps the 2003 relegation play-off between the two sides. With a Brandywell Stadium packed with both sets of fans and a Finn Harps managed by a former Derry manager in the form of Noel King, it was a highly charged affair that finished 2-1 to Derry after an extra-time goal from Derry City favourite, Liam Coyle. With the two teams currently playing in different divisions, the Northwest Derby is a rarer affair than it once was.
[edit] Current squad
|
|
[edit] Honours
- FAI Cups: 1:
- 1974
- First Division Championship: 1:
- 2004
