Right from the restart United went on the offensive. Conor Mc. Mahon who picked up a knock in the first half was replaced at halftime by Shane Fitzgerald. In the opening half Paul Whelan played in the unusual role up front with Sean Brennan, in the second half he moved back to his more familiar role in defence and Fitzgerald moved up front. It proved to be a good tactical move by manager Roddy Collins. We only had to wait 10 minutes for the move to pay off when United were back on terms. United were awarded a free out to the left in front of the area, Sean Brennan swung the ball into the area Shane Grimes pressurized the keeper who lost the ball and Eric Foley got his foot to it and the ball was in the back of the net. United now looked to be in full control and appeared the more likely to score. However ten minutes later they were dealt a ! blow when their very inform mid field player Alan Byrne went off with a hamstring injury. Every cloud has a silver lining, Kevin Loughran was sprung from the bench to replace Byrne, and what a find for the future this 15 year old is. Shortly afterwards Harps were also dealt a blow when their very influential player Mark Brolly was stretchered off having come down awarkardly on his ankle. There was a hold up until the player was taken off the pitch. The hold up allowed United to loose concentration and immediately on resumption Harps had a throw in,  they moved the ball quickly down the field and Kevin Mc. Hugh was in for his second of the night. United were stung and they were desperate to get back on terms, their pressure paid off five minutes later. A clearance out of defence by Ciaran Coll reached Eric Foley 27 yards out and his volley was sweet giving the keeper no chance. The 10 minutes later the red mist descended on Thomas B! onner when he struck Sean Brennan in the face after he was adjudged to have fouled the United player, it was a rash bit of indiscipline from a player who otherwise had an excellent game. .At this stage Harps were obviously settling for the share of points and played with a blanket defence for the remaining minutes and when they did break out of defence on two occasions they created a couple of good chances.

United would be delighted to have got this away point considering they were playing with a depleted side. It was great to see young local lad Kevin Loughran making the break through and also on the bench was fellow under 16 player Garbhan Mc. Kenna both products of the underage academy at Gortakeegan.

Manager Roddy Collins was very pleased with the result, he was returning to a ground where he commenced his football career with Bohemians 32 years ago ( he must have been even younger than Kevin Loughrin.)

Finn Harps: Ciaran Gallagher; James Doherty, Packie Mailey, Paddy McLaughlin, Ciaran Coll; Raymond Foy, Conor O’Grady, Tommy Bonner; Gareth Harkin, Kevin McHugh, Marc Brolly (Oisin McMenamin 69).

Monaghan United: Gabriel Sava; Conor McMahon (Shane Fitzgerald 46), Dave Rodgers, Aidan Collins, Shane Grimes; Paul Whelan, Eric Foley, John Reilly, Alan Byrne (Kevin Loughrin 64); Sean Brennan, Jason Marks.

Referee: Phil Cascera.

Boys Under 16

Bay United v Monaghan United.

In their final game of the season in the under 16 Fast Fix Premier League, Monaghan United are away to Bay Rovers(Dundalk).

United have already won the league and their main function will be collect the silverware.

The game will be at the Rock Rd. Dundalk with kick off at 4.30.p.m. We expect that there will have a good support.

Congratulations to the squad and managers Paddy Owens and James Forde.