Finn Harps 1 Shamrock Rovers 1: Finn Harps boss Felix Healy believes much better is to come from his side after they registered their first point of the season on Saturday night to climb off the bottom of the table.

"This was a very important point for us and a big psychological boost. There would have been big disappointment if we had lost again," Healy said.

Harps had to field without their first-choice strikeforce of Kevin McHugh and Chris Breen, and this meant the untried Séamus Brown and Ross Connolly had to lead their attack.

Brown had a largely fruitless night, but finished on a high as he claimed the last-gasp equaliser.

He rose to connect with Jonathan Minnock's probing free and goalkeeper Russell Payne, who had looked suspect earlier, failed to grasp the ball.

Rovers may have felt he was impeded but manager Roddy Collins was quick to acknowledge that his side had not played well.

"We did not deserve the three points. We were sloppy and unprofessional. We did not drop two points in the last two minutes, we dropped them in the first two minutes. The only difference in the sides was that we were fitter late on," he said.

Rovers had taken the lead in what was a largely uninspiring contest when substitute Paul Caffrey forced the ball home in the 78th minute after a probing run by Northern Ireland under-21 international Pat McCourt.

Some of the 1,700 attendance had already left, feeling a third successive defeat on the trot was inevitable for the Donegal side, when teenager Brown claimed the late equaliser.

FINN HARPS: Cullen; Asokuh, Minnock, Boyle, Bradley, Funston, Bonner, Rossiter, Browne, Connolly, Gorman.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Payne; Gough, Phillips, McGuinness, Gavin, McDonagh, McCourt, O'Connor, Cameron, Molloy, Rutherford. Subs: Caffrey for O'Connor, L Feeney for Cameron (both 60 mins).

Referee: D Hancock (Dublin).