Friday’s game in Finn Park is available to stream on LOITV. The kickoff is at 8 pm.
Tickets for away supporters are available for purchase here.
Stephen Bradley updated shamrockrovers.ie with some team news ahead of the trip to Finn Park:
Was everyone hurting after going out of the Cup to Bohs on Sunday?
“Yeah. It was a competition that we wanted to go as far as possible and try and win so were obviously all disappointed that we went out on Sunday.”
What did you make of the team’s performance overall?
“I thought it was a poor game in general. It looked like we had come off the back of a hectic schedule. In terms of our performance, we were nowhere near what our levels can be so we know we can perform better.”
There wasn’t much anyone can do about their strike from the free kick and did you feel it sort of came against the run of play?
“It’s a strike that he catches just right but I felt that there wasn’t anything in the game in terms of quality play from either team. There weren’t any periods of dominance. It was a real scrappy, poor-quality game and the big moments fell for them, which is unfortunate.”
It was a feisty affair with some crunching tackles, which you’d expect from a derby but what was your view of the double red card incident?
“I’ve seen it back a number of times now and the ref has made the decision and in my opinion it’s wrong that Ronan has got sent off. But he’s made the decision and we have to accept it.”
After getting the equaliser through Pico from the free kick should we have done better to stop their decisive second goal soon afterwards?
“Definitely. The second goal was poor from our point of view. It’s on the edge of the box and we don’t get to the ball. He hits it and it goes in but it’s really poor from us.”
Our sole focus is on retaining the league now. Are you confident that we can put the three defeats behind us and get back to business in the league campaign?
“We just have to be calm and re-focus and get back to what we do. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”
Rovers have a great record at Ballybofey but Harps are in good form and recently, beating St Pat’s up there. Is this one of the trickier games we can have at the moment?
“I think Finn Harps are playing really well. I watched them against St Pat’s and they won the game quite comfortably and they were good against Derry as well. It’s a tough game but we’re looking forward to it. We’ve had a nice break after the game on Sunday which we needed to re-focus and get ready.”
Ronan Finn is suspended, and Pico Lopes is on international duty. Are Sean Hoare, Lee Grace, Sean Kavanagh and Neil Farrugia the only injuries?
“Yes, what we were missing the other day we’re missing tomorrow. There’s another one or two knocks and I don’t know if we’ll have any of them back, we’ll have to have a look at them this morning. So, we’ll be down a few bodies but that’s football, it’s no problem because the squad is strong.”
Given the number of defensive players missing, were you happy to get Barry Cotter in this week and is he available for Friday?
“We were delighted to get Barry in. He’s very versatile and can play in several positions and he has a lot of the attributes we like as a player. He’s available for Friday.”
