UCD took their chances, Finn Harps didn’t – Darren Murphy 

Goals either side of the half-time break from Harry Curtis and Michael Raggett at Belfield resulted in Finn Harps suffering a sixth straight defeat

By Daire Walsh

In the wake of his side’s 2-0 defeat away to UCD in the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division on Friday, Finn Harps manager Darren Murphy admitted their opponents possessed a greater clinical edge in front of goal.

Supplementing a Harry Curtis opener deep into first half stoppage-time, Michael Raggett followed up with a second UCD goal just under three minutes after the resumption.

Former Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk footballer Ronan Finn provided the assists for both of these finishes and while Harps had opportunities of their own throughout the contest, they couldn’t find the net and ultimately fell to a fifth successive league defeat.

“It’s a poor goal from our part – the opening goal. It’s a free header inside the six-yard box. We were trying to identify it from the sideline and unfortunately the message doesn’t get across.

“It’s a great ball into the box, but it’s a free header and you expect him to score,” Murphy remarked after the game.

“Then you come out the second half and you shoot yourself in the foot. You’re 2-0 down and then it’s an uphill task against a very good UCD side.

“The difference between the two teams is that UCD took their chances when they came along. We had enough chances in the game and we didn’t take any.

“That’s unfortunate, but I’m not going to be hard on the players. That’s just the way it is. Sometimes the ball bounces for you and sometimes it doesn’t. Unfortunately this evening, it didn’t bounce for us.”