Derry City 0
Finn Harps 2
BJ BANDA CAME off the bench to hand Finn Harps a precious victory over their north west rivals Derry City at Maginn Park.
The striker came on as an enforced change for Ollie Horgan’s men when replacing the injured Johnny Bonner early in the first half. And he broke City hearts on the stroke of half-time when he turned superbly before his shot deflected off the foot of Scott Whiteside and looped over the head of Gerard Doherty.
It was a real sucker punch for City who should have been ahead but for wasted chances from both Ronan Curtis and Mikhail Kennedy.
Another sub, Michael Funston, then added a second with eight minutes to go to get Harps back on the winning trail.
Derry boss, Kenny Shiels had said before the game, Harps had the upper hand given their vast experience and, having now taken eight points from the last three derby clashes, who’s to argue?
Both teams had come into the game on the back of successive defeats and Derry made two changes from the team which lost to Cork, with Nathan Boyle and Harry Monaghan making way for Josh Daniels and Scott Whiteside.
Harps, meanwhile, were unchanged from the team which lost to the champions, Dundalk last weekend.
Harps had the first shot on target on 14 minutes when Caolan McAleer dispossessed Conor McDermott and curled his shot safely into the hands of Gerard Doherty.
Almost immediately Derry almost capitalised on a ball played over the top of the Harps defence by Mikhail Kennedy. And when Ciaran Coll lost his footing, Curtis was clean through on goal but from a tight angle he tamely shot into the side netting.
Ex City star, Paddy McCourt picked up a loose clearance from McDermott on the edge of the penalty area but he screwed his low strike just wide o the target on 19 minutes.
Dean Jarvis then tested Ciaran Gallagher from distance with a well struck effort but it was saved comfortably.
Derry broke quickly through Aaron McEneff and when the midfielder cut the ball back to Curtis, the City striker scuffed his shot and Gallagher cleaned up the danger.
Six minutes from the interval Curtis controlled the ball superbly on his chest before playing Kennedy through on goal. The striker had time and space and with support arriving into the penalty area he attempted to find the near post but hit the side netting.
McEneff’s curling strike from 20 yards was then palmed over the crossbar by Gallagher moments later as the Candystripes finished strongly.
On the stroke of half-time substitute, Banda turned his man 20 yards from goal and his deflected shot looped over the head of Doherty and into the net.
It was a cruel blow for City who really should’ve taken the lead into the interval.
The expected onslaught from the home side failed to materialise at the start of the second half as Harps continued to frustrate.
Harps could have doubled their lead with 10 minutes to go when Barry was dispossessed by the lively Banda who forced a good save from Doherty at full stretch.
And Banda was causing problems again on 82 minutes when his strike was parried into the path of substitute, Funston by Doherty and the experienced Harps man poked it into the corner of the net to seal the points.
Derry City: G. Doherty; C. McDermott, A. Barry, S. Whiteside, D. Jarvis; L. Schubert (M. Timlin 55), N. Low, A. McEneff, J. Daniels (B. Doherty 78); M. Kennedy (N. Boyle 55), R. Curtis; Subs Not Used – E. Grimes, H. Monaghan,A. Delap, S. Todd.
Finn Harps: C. Gallagher; D. McNulty, K. Cantwell, C. Coll; B. Molloy, J. Bonner (BJ Banda 22); E. Boyle, P. McCourt (M. Funston 57), G. Harkin; C. McAleer, S. Houston; Subs Not Used – H. Doherty, P. Mailey, M. Funston, T. McMonagle, G. Doherty, S. McGlynn.
Referee: Ray Matthews (Dublin)
I’m not a huge fan of the tap penalty, would lineout and maul not yield greater returns?
@brian o’leary: no guarantee you’ll win the lineout, that the other team won’t sack the maul etc. Tap penalty is the safest option to guarantee possession
@Niall Boyle: correct, but I wonder if there’s any stats available comparing the success rate of the two options?
@brian o’leary: scrum for me all day in that situation. Huge scrummaging machine pushes opposition pack backwards, secures another penalty, play of 8 around the house or 9 to the backline through one or two power phases..a thing of beauty…
@Stuart: ireland got a try from a 5 metre scrum, and two from lineout mauls v italy. We’re not converting from rucks inside 5m as much as we used to, getting held up a lot?
@brian o’leary: I’m still very in the fence about the held up law. It may because it feels like Ireland and Leinster get done by it a lot, which is maybe just my own perception, but it feels way too heavily weighted towards the defence. The attack could put together 5 or 6 great pieces of play to get themselves there and then one guy just needs to do one action to get his body under it and it undoes all of the hard attacking work and sticks you 30/40m back. That feels bad every time.
@Stuart: ireland have a poor record with ref’s and scrum penalties. If the opposition tighthead took a chainsaw to our frontrow the ref would give a penalty against porter for bleeding
Easterby’s best shot at being a 6n’s head coach permanently is with Wales. I think the IRFU will have noticed that the team has got progressively worse over the course of the championship under his watch. Is it all down to Easterby being there instead of Faz, possibly not but as an audition it definitely didn’t go well.
@Michael Corkery: maybe they’ll notice that being without their head coach for a period might not be the best idea, and will say no the next time?
@brian o’leary: Agreed. I think IRFU were wrong to sanction AF going off on Lions jolly at this time when Ireland were going for the 3 championships in a row and building towards WC….he is head coach and this is where he should be…end of. Coaching team need to look at their selection management over the entire 6n campaign.
@Dolores Scully: If the IRFU refused to sanction Farrell coaching the Lions, im pretty sure it wouldnt go down too well with Farrell.
@Jonny Miller: when will they get another chance to do 3 in a row?
Farrell should stay on his holidays if he is not committed.
@Jonny Miller:our coach could be told pre contract that its not an option?
I’m not sure why lions coach need to miss the six nations, he going to be familiar with all the players anyway, and stats can do the rest?
@brian o’leary: at the same time, in terms of succession planning, they got a look at the next man in potentially mid RWC cycle. They should have brought someone like Felix Jones in to concentrate on defense and basically have Easterby do the exact same role as Farrell but he kept his defensive role (which as a result of his attention being elsewhere fell well below the usual standard). For example if Easterby had left, wasn’t replaced and Farrell had to cover defense in his absence. Would we have seen similar regression?
@Dolores Scully: I don’t understand why AF didn’t coach the Irish side during the 6nts ..sat in the stands ? The lions squad are not even together yet…surely the lions gig is at mostly a part time gig at the moment with the administrational/planning stuff?
@Dolores Scully: Building towards a world cup. Same story every year
@Dolores Scully: rubbish there’s November series 25 &26, six nations 26 & 27 and a summer tour in 26 for Andy Farrell to be assessing options before the world cup.
@Oran Burns: maybe our best ever coach and you don’t think he’s committed?
@mark sheehan: well if you want to look at it like that the WC is a 4-year cycle and surely not getting past the quarter final should mean that building/ planning should start straight away. Also, as previously stated here, the 6n is worth a hell of a lot financially to the IRFU…needed to build the squad. And no, as head coach, the team should be front and centre…or is it another case of Sexton’s ” we lost but we won” rubbish.