League Report: Dundalk 4 - 0 Finn Harps

Dundalk overcame the disappointment of last weekend's defeat at Tallaght Stadium to record a comfortable 4-0 victory over a spirited Finn Harps at Finn Park in front of a crowd of 1,582. 
 
With Jordan Flores on the bench following his goalscoring exploits last Friday, Dan Kelly came into the side and Cammy Smith started in the 10 role. However, it was Dundalk's opposite winger who set up the opening goal as Michael Duffy found Pat Hoban with less than three minutes on the clock and his curling effort took a nick and found the net to break the Loughrea man's duck against Finn Harps.
 
Dundalk's number nine played a part in the Lilywhites' second less than 10 minutes before half time as his pass found Duffy, whose ball into the box was hammered off the bar by Dan Kelly and Duffy himself neatly finished the rebound to leave it two nil at the break.
 
Harps were forced into a substitution and reshuffle at half time with Shane McEleney replaced by Mark Coyle. However, whatever plans they had were soon thrown into disarray as Dundalk notched a third on 51 minutes- Daniel Cleary's cross was volleyed goalwards by Dane Massey and Mark McGinley's parry was returned to the net by that man Hoban. 
 
Ollie Horgan's men never dropped their heads however and almost grabbed a consolation following a goalmouth scramble around the hour mark. However, Seán Gannon headed the ball clear from under his own crossbar and Rogers, who had made a great save in the first half, saw his clean sheet remain intact. 
 
The second half descended into a flurry of substitutions as Stefan Colovic debuted for the Lilywhites while Patrick McEleney made his first appearance of the season and, for Harps, Raff Cretaro and Gareth Harkin appeared off the bench. Greg Sloggett pounced from close range to net his first goal for the club with less than ten minutes of the game while Serbian replacement Colovic hit the woodwork as Dundalk almost found a fifth.
 
Not to be, though a four goal margin was harsh on a Harps side who battled well throughout.
 
 

Finn Harps: Mark McGinley ; Shane McEleney (Mark Coyle 46) , Mark Russell , Kosovar Sadiki , Sam Todd , David Webster ; Ruairi Harkin (Gareth Harkin 66) , Ryan Connolly , Tony McNamee , Karl O'Sullivan (Raffaele Cretaro 76) ; Alexander Kogler . 

Subs not used: Leo Donnellan, Adrian Delap, Tom McDermott, Cameron Saul. 

Booked: Shane McEleney (32),

Sent off: 


Dundalk: Gary Rogers ; Sean Gannon , Daniel Cleary , Sean Hoare , Dane Massey ; Michael Duffy , Chris Shields , Greg Sloggett ; Patrick Hoban (Georgie Kelly 80) , Daniel Kelly (Stefan Colovic 72) , Cammy Smith (Patrick McEleney 77) . 

Subs not used: Brian Gartland, Jordan Flores, Andy Boyle, Aaron McCarey

Booked: Sean Gannon (90). 

Sent off: 


Referee: Robert Harvey 

Attendance: 1,582 

ExtraTime.ie Player of the Match: Patrick Hoban