Connnolly cracker earns Harps share of the spoils

Around Finn Park way, the more things change the more they stay the same.

The last time Finn Harps lined out on Navenny Street, they hammered Longford Town 5-0 to ensure their Premier Division survival. Ryan Connolly scored a cracker that night for Ollie Horgan's side.

From the starting XI last November, only five players remained, although the commitment from the new players was certainly evident and, again, Connolly pinged home a fantastic strike on 64 minutes to give the hosts their first goal of the campaign.

Promise Omochere steered the opening goal on 51 minutes when an attempted clearance from Ryan Rainey clipped Ethan Boyle from Dawson Devoy cross. The last talking point of the night was a second yellow which meant a red for the Bohemians frontman - after a second foul on Boyle - in the 89th minute.

What felt like an eternity beforehand, Max Murphy drew a scrambling save from Mark Anthony McGinley as early as the fifth minute. It looked as though Kris Twardek would merely pop it into the yawning goal from the follow-up, only for his teammate Ali Coote to block the shot.

Following the postponement of their first outing of the campaign, when Drogheda United were due in the Twin Towns, Élie Gael N'zeyi Kibonge saw a shot blocked while Yoyo Mahdy glanced a header wide as the Ballybofey side looked for their first goal ofg the campaign.

Jordan Flores, though the crowd, drew a smart stop from McGinley down low at his near post. Harps created plenty yet scored none in their opening two encounters this term and towards the end of the first half, put together a few decent passages of play without testing James Talbot.

Keith Long's visitors had picked up four points from their first two outings, with a 1-0 victory against St