The final stretch now, one way or another. The questions is, will we get to the end of the season still being employed by Finn Harps. It hasn’t been good; bar the odd highlight, it has been pretty devastatingly terrible in fact. The latest shocking result has rightly prompted the refunding of tickets to the travelling fans. This figure has been placed at “over €1500” by the Irish Football Daily. Upon further investigation, by me, it turns out the grand total of travelling supporters to St Colman’s Park in Cobh was…75. This works out as our average ticket price is listed as €20, the same as Cobh Ramblers. #TwentyIsPlenty
Longford at home now in the Challenge Cup…what could possibly go wrong? Well, lots of things could. Sean O’Donnell scored his first goal for the club. You may remember that he had a really good showing in the first round against Ringmahon. That was pretty much where the positives stop. We finished 1-1 at 90 minutes and in extra time things all fell apart. A fantastic strike and a penalty in the first half saw us off although Omar Bugiel pulled one back in the second half. The stats say it a good contest but good doesn’t always mean enjoyable does it? I could now roll out the tired old expression of, “it gives us chance to focus on the league” but let’s be honest with each other, there is very little focus from these players at all.
Here’s a new one on me, though probably a perfectly normal occurrence to a genuine Irish football fan – I have only just noticed because it has now affected our league fixture but Shamrock Rovers have already begun their European tour before finishing this season. That seems difficult to get my head around, I’ll be honest. They lost their UEFA Champions League Path Second Qualifying Round (that’s a mouthful, as the actress said to the bishop…) 4-3 on aggregate to Slovan Bratislava and are now in UEFA Europa League Playoff against Djurgårdens IF of Sweden. Perhaps Stephen Bradley, the Shamrock manager, is looking at our schedule and thinking, “WTF?! Four days after playing us, this guy has got Croatia at home then Cyprus away before coming home and going to Sligo!”
Anyway, next fixture is University College Dublin whom I have to force myself to call UCD to avoid my brain adding a buzzer and a University Challenge voiceover to their name.
Just when you think you have the answers, Magnus Magnussen changes the questions… We were the better team, going 1-0 up thanks to Omar Bugiel, UCD equalised in the second half thanks to an embarrassing pass back to the keeper by defender Noah Lewis but we still kept pushing for the winner until we conceded a late goal to lose. Again.
With one week to go before the free transfer deadline, we have taken on trial for a week an attacking midfielder from Finland who has been released by Chelsea. As you can imagine, he has a rating of 4.5-5 stars and “Star player who could still improve” report. I have spoke to his agent who obviously wants the earth for his services but was willing to drop back a bit on the weekly salary so let’s see what we can offer him. He would have a release clause involved which is fine because if (haha, when) we get relegated, we would be able to get good money for him.
Away trip to the champions next before our international break but there’s a squad to announce for the upcoming qualifiers. I have kept the same as the previous 6-0 friendly win in Lithuania with the exception of dropping attacker Glenn McConnell of Cambridge United because Troy Parrott is available having not been called up to the main squad this time.
Unsurprisingly, we lost 2-0 at Shamrock. We were not overly outplayed. Had we have got some of our shots on target, the game would have been closer. A welcome break now of 12 days for the squad. I’ve put them all on rest days while I swan off with the under-21 national side.
They don’t exactly deserve the break but perhaps it will do them good.
Deadline has come and gone and we got our man. Jimi Tauriainen, 20-year-old Finnish shadow striker. Unless he’s the second coming of Jesus then he won’t save us, but if we can go out with a bang then that’ll do.
So, a top of the table clash here at the Aviva Stadium. Croatia are unbeaten, they have won all six of their qualifiers so far including against us over there. We have only lost that one match. In the 16th minute, we get a penalty which Troy Parrott despatches. Thank goodness he wasn’t picked for the first team! Their goalkeeper, Čavlina, is playing well. I signed him for Blackburn Rovers on the Xbox version, coincidentally – cracking young goalie.
Croatia equalise just before half time. Another former signing of mine, this time on FM23 and FM22, with the assist – Gabriel Vidović was a bit of a wonder kid for me at Blackburn Rovers. I thought we had taken the lead in the second half with Parrott again but he was offside allegedly, very tight. Vidović scores after that to make it 2-1 to Croatia. The proved too much for us in the end as they added a third in the last minute. It was an even game in all honesty, 3-1 flattered them.
What that means to the table is that Croatia are now six points clear and Poland’s win in Andorra draws them level on points with us, but they go second on goal difference. Realistically, we are now fighting it out with Poland to be one of the second place teams to playoff for entry into the tournament proper. Hopefully we can now go to Cyprus and get a result as Poland welcome Croatia. Our last game of the group will be away to Poland so every point matters before then!
The Cyprus match does not disappoint – about as comprehensive a victory as it gets. We start the match like there’s only us on the pitch, scoring in the first and second minutes, with the first arriving after just 22 seconds. They have a single shot on target, a penalty that they convert, to leave us 2-1 up at half time.
The second half is incredible as we blow them away. Rather like an actual parrot, Troy scores again and again to finish with a hat trick, Armstrong Oko-Flex bags a brace and right winger Darragh Burns of MK Dons gets one too. That has definitely pulled our goal difference closer to Poland’s, who lost 1-0 to Croatia, and puts us three points ahead of them.
Back to the grindstone we go with a visit to Sligo Rovers for a hard fought draw. New signing Jimi Tauriainen turns in a brilliant 7.5 rating as he scores a free kick from miles out just before half-time on his debut. Sligo equalise midway through the second half and so it finishes. No ground gained though as the three teams above us also drew 1-1 – Cork and Cobh against each other, and UCD at Shamrock.
I would like to point out here that Longford have progressed again in the Challenge Cup, this time knocking out Bohemians away from home after extra time. So they’re in the semi-finals now. They are currently mid table in the First Division. I don’t know if that gains me any brownie points back but I’ll clutch at any straw!
Six games to go, we welcome Shelbourne to our humble abode. Just two minutes into the match, Antonicelli pulls his knee ligaments. Only to an amber injury warning so I decide to see how he copes. Good job I do as he scores the opener on 16 minutes. Just before half time, we double and then triple our lead thanks to the Finnisher, Jimi Tauriainen, on 41 and 42 minutes. What sorcery is this that Finn Harps have found themselves 3-0 up?!
I take Antonicelli off at half-time to prevent risk of further injury. That Georgian defender I brought in early doors has deteriorated dramatically. His star rating is falling faster than we are, and for the second time this season he has just passed the ball straight to the opposing striker to score a free goal. He’ll be on his way this summer… if I’m not.
I’m not too proud to admit that I got genuinely nervous towards the end of that. They pull another back and we are on the ropes in injury time. Thank goodness the whistle goes, because another minute and I think we’d have conceded again. As it is, that’s the second time we’ve beaten Shelbourne; we must be their bogey team. Who knew?! Plus, in a rare upturn of events elsewhere, the four teams above us all lose. We’re still 10 points adrift but still it feels like a good day at the office. Except for that the injury to Lucas Antonicelli which has finished his season – he’ll be out for five weeks.
They say it’s best to quit while you’re ahead and while we are not actually ahead of anybody, we’ll pause there. Until the next time. Same Bat-time, same Bat-channel…
Heart of Football 
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