Play-off hero BJ Banda signs new deal with Harps

Finn Harps have announced that the promotion play-off hero of 2015, BJ Banda, has signed a new contract to keep him at the club for 2018.

The 19-year-old rose to prominence at the end of the 2015 season as he scored twice in the regular season before netting a dramatic last-minute winner against Limerick in the play-off at Finn Park.

The local boy has found gametime difficult to come by during Harps' two seasons at the top level, however, and wasn't helped by a serious knee injury that kept him out for much of last year.

He managed two goals during the season – one in a famous victory over Derry City and the second a spectacular finish away to Shamrock Rovers – as Ollie Horgan's side dropped to the second tier.

“B.J. will have a big opportunity to nail down a regular place in the team next season and it’s up to him now to make that happen,” Horgan told the club's official website.

“He’s been around the senior squad since the second half of the 2015 season so he knows what is required in terms of the commitment to play at his level.

“B.J. has come up through our underage system and played at both U17 and U19 so that has been the right pathway to learn the game.

“He has the knack to get goals but we will need him to do that on a regular basis in the First Division.”

Banda played schoolboy football with Letterkenny Rovers before joining the underage set-up at Harps in 2014.