- Andrew Dempsey
- Wed, May 17 2023
Finn Harps boss Dave Rogers insists he is up for the challenge to turn his side’s fortunes around.
After Harps lost 2-0 away to Bray Wanderers on Friday night, they were left sitting ninth in the First Division table.
But there has been a major overhaul within Harps’ first-team squad over the last few months since their relegation from the Premier Division.
And Rogers is up for the challenge to restore the club to its former glory.
“We knew from the day we came in that it was a complete overhaul,” he explained. “We were only left with one player from last season – Ryan Rainey.
“He is out injured long-term and we’ve lost Ellis (Farrar) as well so when you lose players to injuries in important places it is going to make you lose that momentum.
“We knew it was going to be tough and it was going to be a challenge. It was a complete rebuild but we know the focus of where we’re at.
“We’re going to get days like this where we perform for OK in patches and don’t get a result. But we have got to react positively and bounce back.
“No better man than myself. I’m a born winner and I’m up for a challenge. But it will get better.”
Harps’ struggles have been laid bare in recent weeks by their lowly league position in the First Division.
But the club have changed their model under new boss Rogers with a focus placed on home-grown talent rather than recruiting players who would train once a week.
“We have a 50% less budget than what has been there before,” he explained. “We don’t have players travelling from Dublin, Sligo or Galway anymore and training just once a week.
“We have a young, hungry squad who are all based in Donegal and that’s the pathway we had to go down.
“That’s where the whole rebuild and energising of the club… It is always going to take time and again – it is not nice when you lose games of football and we understand that.”
Rogers was appointed as Harps chief in December – just weeks after former boss Ollie Horgan stepped aside after a long stint in charge of the Ballybofey outfit.
And one of his many remits was to imprint a new identity to the club.
For Rogers, that led to him recruiting a host of local players.
“When I came in the chairman said to me that the club were losing players because there was no pathway for them,” he said.
“But to get into a pathway you have to be good and handle those situations. Some of our players can handle it at times.
“Some of them have to start learning quickly. This league is an unforgiving league but we want to give them a platform and environment to express themselves.
“But they have to grow quickly and it is senior football and we can’t sit feeling sorry for ourselves.”
Finn Harps face another stiff test against Waterford this week as they look to move up the table again.
But it does at least give them a chance to make amends for their most recent loss against the Blues - a 7-1 humbling at the RSC - despite what their boss believes.
“It’s not even about revenge,” Rogers admits. “Bray lost 6-0 to Galway United so crazy results can happen. It happens in football and I have been on the end of a few of them.
“You think ‘how has this happened’, but it is all a part of the learning process. Nothing is ever perfect and you have to always be positive and react in the right way.
“We have got to start putting an end to the silly goals we are giving teams. It’s naivety and a bit of immaturity.
“But when you have players who have only played in their first season of senior football that is going to happen you are going to get that.
“It is up to us as a staff to give them the confidence and make them get better on the training pitch.”
