Connaghan & Whoriskey depart Harps

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Finn Harps have confirmed that both Christy Connaghan and Gary Whoriskey have been let go by the club over the last few days.

The new Harps management team of Felix Healy and Peter Hutton have moved swiftly to reshuffle things at Finn Park, having acquired the services of JP Gallagher, Stephen O’Donnell and Sean McCarron in recent weeks.

However, as players come in, so too must players depart and Connaghan and Whoriskey are the first players from the current panel to be shown the door, as first team-manager Peter Hutton revealed following Harp’s 1-0 win over Waterford United on Saturday night.

“Unfortunately for Gary Whoriskey, we’re overloaded defensively and we have more than adequate cover now, especially on the left side because we have signed JP Gallagher as well.

“We don’t really want to be keeping players where they are not going to realistically get much game-time and given their age too, they need to be out playing, to be quite honest,” said Hutton who acknowledges the need to find a correct balance in the squad.

He added: “Similarly, Christy hasn’t really done anything wrong, just Mark Forker has come in and done exceptionally well there (at right-midfield). We have another few options that can play on the right as well, so it’s unfortunate but we have to try and balance the squad all over. We’re short in some areas and overloaded in others so it’s just a matter of trying to find that balance.”

Hutton wasn’t ruling out the signings of more players in the upcoming July transfer window but he knows they might have to let more players go if that is to happen.

“We have a few other irons in the fire so we’ll just have to wait, obviously things are tight financially. It’s very much a case that if we bring anyone in then we may have to look at letting someone go,” he said.