Gallagher wants to build unity & team spirit
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Finn Harps boss James Gallagher is adamant the club will have their squad for the 2011 League of Ireland season finalised by the end of this weekend.
Gallagher has put in a mountain of work trying to get a squad in place for the new campaign, which gets underway in three weeks time with a trip to Cork City.
Several marquee names have arrived at Finn Park in the last fortnight such as Conor O’Grady, Paddy McLaughlin and Gareth Harkin, while the Harps manager has also retained the services of Kevin McHugh and Packie Mailey, cornerstones of last season’s team.
In the aftermath of last weekend’s pre-season friendly with Derry City – a game Harps won on penalties – the Harps manager revealed his satisfaction with the strength in the depth of the squad, emphasising that competition for places is fierce.
However, Gallagher, whose side take on Donegal Celtic in a friendly on Sunday (kick-off 3pm), insists a decision one way or the other must be made regarding the permanent involvement of players like Garbhan Friel, Kieran Gorman, Neil Harkin, and Chris Breen who have been training with the squad in pre-season with a view to signing.
“By the end of this week, between myself and the chairman, we want to get the squad finalised, that’s including appointing the captain and vice-captain,” Gallagher said this week. “I pretty much want everything wrapped up, so it might be a case of telling one player he won’t be a part of the squad and telling another they are.
“My hands are obviously tied to an extent with the budget, but apart from that there are other reasons why I want to get it sorted. We need to get the squad focused on the start of the season. We want to build up a unity and team spirit within the group,” he added.
Gallagher revealed that centre-half Keith Cowan has been offered a contract following a highly impressive pre-season. The defender stood out like a butterfly in a sandstorm during last week’s game with the Foylesider’s, coming up with two vital goal-line clearances to deny both Stephen McLaughlin and Michael McCrudden.
“I sat down with Keith on Tuesday night after training and made him an offer. He’s been absolutely first class since the first day of pre-season. He actually landed into pre-season with a bit of a knock but that didn’t hold him back one bit.
“Against Derry he was superb; his work-rate and general attitude has just been fabulous. So we’ve managed to put something together for him, which isn’t the most attractive deal, it must be said. But, again, I’m trying to paint a picture that there is the chance to play at a high standard here, and we’re obviously hoping he’ll accept our offer,” said Gallagher who also revealed that former Harps player Seamie Peoples is back up at Finn Park, hoping to lay the foundations for a path back into the first-team squad.
He added: “Seamie hasn’t been training with the first team, Paddy Foy (‘A’ team manager) is looking after him. He is obviously someone who played with Harps before, he was here the time I was playing. He’s a player I’ve always liked but I don’t think he is playing at the level he should be right now.
“I think he’s good enough to get in the Finn Harps first team but he needs to get his head down, work hard for whatever amount of time it takes and hopefully get himself to where any player needs to be playing for Harps. So I’ve left it with Paddy to look after for the time being.”
Harps scored just thirty-seven goals in thirty-three league games last season, conceding forty-three along the way. Gallagher is now hoping that with the inception of a more enterprising formation, coupled with having more efficient players at his disposal, his side can become a more potent and merciless animal.
Last week against Derry, Conor O’Grady provided a sort of anchor for Tommy Bonner and Mark Forker in a three-man midfield while Oisin McMenamin, Kevin McHugh and Marc Brolly formed a three-man attack, as Harps deployed a 4-3-3 approach.
“It’s early days for myself in management but it’s a system I’d like to play. I think maybe we didn’t have the personnel last year to go with it but with boys like Conor (O’Grady), Gareth (Harkin) and Christy (Connaghan) now in the squad I feel it’s definitely a good option.
“It’s obviously a new system to a lot of the players, who might only have been used to playing 4-4-2 in the past. We obviously want to have a fair idea of what way we’d like to play before the season starts and from our point of view there’s no harm in having a look at it. It’s good to have different options because you might have to differ your approach for every opponent.”
Gallagher has put in a mountain of work trying to get a squad in place for the new campaign, which gets underway in three weeks time with a trip to Cork City.
Several marquee names have arrived at Finn Park in the last fortnight such as Conor O’Grady, Paddy McLaughlin and Gareth Harkin, while the Harps manager has also retained the services of Kevin McHugh and Packie Mailey, cornerstones of last season’s team.
In the aftermath of last weekend’s pre-season friendly with Derry City – a game Harps won on penalties – the Harps manager revealed his satisfaction with the strength in the depth of the squad, emphasising that competition for places is fierce.
However, Gallagher, whose side take on Donegal Celtic in a friendly on Sunday (kick-off 3pm), insists a decision one way or the other must be made regarding the permanent involvement of players like Garbhan Friel, Kieran Gorman, Neil Harkin, and Chris Breen who have been training with the squad in pre-season with a view to signing.
“By the end of this week, between myself and the chairman, we want to get the squad finalised, that’s including appointing the captain and vice-captain,” Gallagher said this week. “I pretty much want everything wrapped up, so it might be a case of telling one player he won’t be a part of the squad and telling another they are.
“My hands are obviously tied to an extent with the budget, but apart from that there are other reasons why I want to get it sorted. We need to get the squad focused on the start of the season. We want to build up a unity and team spirit within the group,” he added.
Gallagher revealed that centre-half Keith Cowan has been offered a contract following a highly impressive pre-season. The defender stood out like a butterfly in a sandstorm during last week’s game with the Foylesider’s, coming up with two vital goal-line clearances to deny both Stephen McLaughlin and Michael McCrudden.
“I sat down with Keith on Tuesday night after training and made him an offer. He’s been absolutely first class since the first day of pre-season. He actually landed into pre-season with a bit of a knock but that didn’t hold him back one bit.
“Against Derry he was superb; his work-rate and general attitude has just been fabulous. So we’ve managed to put something together for him, which isn’t the most attractive deal, it must be said. But, again, I’m trying to paint a picture that there is the chance to play at a high standard here, and we’re obviously hoping he’ll accept our offer,” said Gallagher who also revealed that former Harps player Seamie Peoples is back up at Finn Park, hoping to lay the foundations for a path back into the first-team squad.
He added: “Seamie hasn’t been training with the first team, Paddy Foy (‘A’ team manager) is looking after him. He is obviously someone who played with Harps before, he was here the time I was playing. He’s a player I’ve always liked but I don’t think he is playing at the level he should be right now.
“I think he’s good enough to get in the Finn Harps first team but he needs to get his head down, work hard for whatever amount of time it takes and hopefully get himself to where any player needs to be playing for Harps. So I’ve left it with Paddy to look after for the time being.”
Harps scored just thirty-seven goals in thirty-three league games last season, conceding forty-three along the way. Gallagher is now hoping that with the inception of a more enterprising formation, coupled with having more efficient players at his disposal, his side can become a more potent and merciless animal.
Last week against Derry, Conor O’Grady provided a sort of anchor for Tommy Bonner and Mark Forker in a three-man midfield while Oisin McMenamin, Kevin McHugh and Marc Brolly formed a three-man attack, as Harps deployed a 4-3-3 approach.
“It’s early days for myself in management but it’s a system I’d like to play. I think maybe we didn’t have the personnel last year to go with it but with boys like Conor (O’Grady), Gareth (Harkin) and Christy (Connaghan) now in the squad I feel it’s definitely a good option.
“It’s obviously a new system to a lot of the players, who might only have been used to playing 4-4-2 in the past. We obviously want to have a fair idea of what way we’d like to play before the season starts and from our point of view there’s no harm in having a look at it. It’s good to have different options because you might have to differ your approach for every opponent.”
