Harps leave it behind them

That Finn Harps were well worth the single point they took home from Dublin last night will scarcely console Jonathan Speak or his players this morning. With the luck most teams in their position tend to enjoy, they might feel fortunate that they didn't concede a late goal to a team that have specialised in that sort of thing over the past couple of seasons.

Instead, they held on through a couple of late scares for a draw they could, in other circumstances, have been pleased with. Not last night, though. And not even against a side that look increasingly certain to retain their league title over the next couple of months.

With a 10-point lead on the pack going into the game, though, it seemed reasonable beforehand to expect a fairly commanding performance from the champions against a side whose route to Premier Division survival has been growing more difficult to navigate with each passing week.

The visitors did, of course, win here back in August, but then that was their last league win on the road while Shelbourne have long since put that rocky early season spell of poor home form behind them.

So it should have been straightforward and surely would have been had Tony Sheridan not driven against the post from barely 18 inches out in the second minute or Dessie Baker not sent his lob of Gareth Downey wide, despite having had what felt like an age to line up his target.

Had either chance gone in then it's fair to assume that a side in Harps' current predicament would have found a fightback a tall enough order. However, as long as the home side struggled to find a way to get the ball past Downey, Speak's men clearly continued to believe that the game might have the makings of an upset.

From a spectator's point of view, the problem was that neither side appeared capable of winning the game during the first hour or so. The Dubliners had the greater share of possession and Downey was twice forced into making good reaction saves - the first from a close range Paul Doolin header, the second from Dessie Baker's drilled 15-yard shot - but, like their opponents, the hosts were terribly prone to giving away the ball needlessly and the bulk of their more promising moves forward ended in carelessness.

Harps, on the other hand, looked like a side that has grown used to battling for points but forgotten how to win them. At the back, Neil Fitzhenry and Shane Bradley coped reasonably well with Dessie Baker and Tony Sheridan, who was making his first start for Shelbourne since returning from Cardiff.

In midfield, their most experienced department these days, they held their own, with Johnny Kenny looking increasingly dangerous down the right as the match progressed. But up front they barely troubled the home side's back four with none of the half chances they created requiring Steve Williams to seriously trouble himself.

As the second half wore on they looked, as they probably should do, like they wanted the extra points more than their hosts. Given how poorly their own side performed, it's hard to believe that even the locals would have begrudged them their lifeline had it been enough to make the game even a little more entertaining.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Scully, McCarthy, D Geoghegan; R Baker, Doolin (Byrne, 78 mins), Fenlon, Hutchison (Crawford, 52 mins); D Baker, Sheridan (Grant, 74 mins).

FINN HARPS: Downey; Scanlon, Fitzhenry, Bradley, R Kenny; J Kenny (Lloyd, 90 mins), Mohan, Harkin, McGrenaghan; McHugh, Marrow (Speak, 83 mins).

Referee: D O'Hanlon (Waterford).