Tony McNamee demands more clinical edge from Finn Harps following UCD loss

The Finn Harps skipper says his side need to be more clinical in front of goal after Kevin McHugh’s side went down 3-1 away to UCD on Friday evening

By Daire Walsh

Finn Harps captain Tony McNamee believes a more clinical edge from their opponents was the key factor behind a 3-1 loss to UCD in the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division at Belfield on Friday night.

Coming into the game without a defeat in five encounters, Harps had an excellent opportunity to take the lead when Gradi Lomboto was put through on goal in the early stages, but UCD custodian Dara Kavanagh thwarted his efforts.

Conor Tourish’s headed finish cancelled out an Adam Brennan opener for the Students – who face Harps in the FAI Cup second round at Finn Park next Friday – before Michael McCullagh and Michael Raggett found the target either side of the interval for the hosts.

“It’s difficult coming down to UCD. We know how good they are at keeping the ball. On a warm day, we tried to keep our shape. Again, we frustrated them to a certain extent at the start of the first half. We got behind them a couple of times. Gradi had a great chance. To be fair to the keeper, he has done well,” McNamee said.

“If Gradi goes around him and it hits the net, you don’t know what happens. That is part and parcel of football. If you don’t take your chances you can be punished at the other end. They seemed to have a lot more space in the box than we did. It just seems to be the way it is going at times, but it’s a difficult venue to come to. We’ll just move on to next week.”