Harps upset by timing and venue

The two games played so far, one terrible and the other outstanding, have tended to support Pat Devlin's assertion that there isn't much between this year's Harp Lager FAI Cup finalists. The stalemates, however, are at an end for this evening's clash at Tolka Park. Somebody is going to be leaving with the silverware, even if that means the match being decided by a dreaded penalty shoot out.

Had it been known at the first game that such a scenario would occur, most of the pundits probably would have seen it as Bray's best chance of repeating their 1990 success. Their league form over the past season gave little indication that they would be able to test a side that, even some of the club's own officials admit, looks a good deal stronger on paper.

When they failed to take their chances to win that opening contest the suspicion was that they'd blown it, but the character shown by Pat Devlin's side in last Saturday's vastly superior match tends to suggest that this last encounter could still go either way.

The fact is that both team's are clearly capable of blowing hot and cold and last weekend, reckons Devlin, it was his side's turn to have an off day. The previous Sunday Charlie McGeever had felt that five or six of his players had failed to perform but, reflecting on the 2-2 draw yesterday, the Wanderers boss estimated that "only one or two of our players played the way that we know they are capable of playing."

Finn Harps, on the other hand, "played as well as they are capable of playing," he says. "I certainly don't think that I have ever seen them play as well as they did last week when I'd have to honestly say that we deserved to lose. But I don't think we can play as poorly this time, or that they'll play as well, so we'd still be confident that we have every chance of winning it."

His cause is not helped this time around by the fact that, in addition to the already injured John Ryan and Glen Brien's suspension, he expects to be without Maurice Farrell (hamstring) and Don Tierney (wrist), both of whom picked their injuries up on Saturday and neither of whom, despite their eagerness to feature again this time, seem likely to be fit enough to play.

"Even if they don't, though, we have plenty of people in the squad who are capable of coming in and helping out. Finally we are getting the value out of having such a large squad."

Pat O'Brien, Alan Dodd and Stuart Connolly, none of whom even made the bench for the last game, are amongst those talked about as possible replacements, but Barry O'Connor and Jason Byrne, both of whom did very well after coming on at the weekend, are the most likely to come in with, in turn, a couple of others being involved in a bit of a scrap for places on the bench. "There are a lot of possibilities," concludes Devlin, "but a lot depends on which system we decide to play and we haven't settled on that, so nobody really knows who exactly is going to be in the team on the night, not even me at this stage."

McGeever, in stark contrast, knows pretty much exactly who will be taking the field for Harps this evening with the Harps manager, on the basis of Saturday's performance, expressing confidence that he will be putting out an unchanged side this time around, which means Paddy McGrenaghan, rather than Eamon Kavanagh, out wide in midfield.

"I think right through the team, from one to 11 on Saturday, we played well, so I don't think I could have any complaints or think about dropping anybody," says the Harps manager who, as in the previous two games, has no injury concerns apart from Pascal Vaudequin's long term hangover from the semi-final against Galway.

Trevor Scanlon will once again fill in for the Frenchman, and McGeever will hope that by leaving well enough alone his side can reproduce the sort of form they displayed in the first replay.

"I think the only thing that I could complain about in that game was the fact that we didn't finish them off which, given the number of chances that we created, was very frustrating. If we play as well this time and don't beat them, well then I don't think we'll have anybody to blame except ourselves, but hopefully that won't happen."

McGeever continues to be disappointed that his club has to travel to Dublin for each of the games when grounds such as Oriel Park, or even the Brandywell, might have provided far more Harps fans with an opportunity to get along to the final.

The scheduling of this second replay has greatly compounded the problem, with many supporters in the country robbed of the opportunity to see such an important game by the match being held on a midweek evening.

"We'd talked about a few things," says McGeever, "but I don't think that Bray wanted anything changed in the end, so we just have to get on with it and hope that we can bring the trophy home for everybody who has been supporting us all season."

Possible teams

Bray Wanderers: Walsh; Doohan, Tresson, J Lynch; O'Connor, Kenny, Smith, Keogh; K O'Brien, Fox, Byrne.

Finn Harps: McKenna; Scanlon, Dykes, Boyle, Minnock; Mohan, Harkin, O'Brien, McGrenaghan; Mulligan, Speak.