Kevin McHugh prepares for change as transfer window looms for Finn Harps

As if to highlight their reliance on youth of late, Finn Harps will be missing four players next week due to the Leaving Certificate exams.

When Harps - who first play Wexford Youths this Friday at Finn Park - head for Athlone Town on Friday-week, Oisin Cooney, Adam McDaid, Daniel Cunningham and Conor McGranaghan will be absent as they sit exams. Shaunie Bradley and Darragh Coyle are also undergoing their Leaving Certs, but the former has no exam that day and the latter remains on the injured list.

"When I got a call to say we could have up to six players from our last game missing for their Leaving Cert exams against Athlone, it hit home how much we have been relying on our underage players playing,” McHugh says.

“We’ve been relying on them and they’ve been starting games recently, probably a bit more than we would have liked, but all this experience - the good and the bad - will stand them all in good stead. It’s been a fast but brilliant start to their footballing careers.”

The exam students will be available this week, with the exception of Coyle, who remains on the injury list.

Conor Tourish and Max Johnston have also been injured - but are nearing returns - with Tony McNamee, Dara McGuinness and Mikey Place noted as doubtful for as Harps resume from the mid-season hiatus when facing Wexford this Friday in Ballybofey.

The two-week break since the 3-1 loss at Bray Wanderers may well have given `Tourish valuable treatment time on a hamstring injury that has him sidelined since the start of May.

Harps have won once in their last 10 - a sequence that also includes four draws - but McHugh believes Harps need to be cognisant of where they are at the moment. 

"We knew we were short in January leading into the season, so I knew exactly what i was getting into when i took over the head-coach role recently,” he says. 

“You can see clearly when a few of our key players are missing how light we really are, but to be fair to the players they are giving their all and have been really unfortunate not to have a few more wins under their belts.

"Our supporters have been brilliant in their understanding of the situation we are in, and they know there will be better days ahead, their support will be needed again in the 2nd half of the season to help us put more points on the board to see where it can take us.”

The transfer window will open at the start of July and although Harps remain under a FIFA registration ban, club sources believe that will be lifted in time for July 1.

Veteran midfielder David Cawley recently called time on his senior career, having made his 400th League of Ireland appearance recently, and his absence has been felt in the engine room.

McHugh has been plotting and planning for a summer of some change in personnel for some weeks now.

He says: “When preparing for the upcoming transfer window, as a football-club, we need to be very resourceful in order to put a squad together that can improve for the second half of the season.ath

“There will be more players leaving, and new players coming in, as a staff, we are working around the clock to try to get a better balance and more competition for places within the squad.

“It's important we try and get that balance right, looking after the current players we have, bringing through our best talents, attracting Donegal and North West players playing elsewhere and adding any player we feel that will add to our squad from further afield.”

Harps will be aiming to get back among the play-off mix in the coming weeks again, but lofty aims come with a health warning in the LOI these days. 

The 10-team Premier Division at the moment has Sligo Rovers and Cork City battling to avoid the relegations quick sands; two clubs with resources, stadia and numbers that dwarf those at Harps.

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“Sligo and Cork are really good examples of top football clubs with everything going for them, but even they are finding it tough in this 10-team league,” McHugh says.

“The Premier Division is a completely different animal to where it was four-five years ago; you need facilities and the majority of things in place to not only compete or try and survive, but compete to get players’ signatures that will help you build in that division.

“Where we are, we sort of have bigger fish to fry at the moment than chasing something that we aren’t ready for.”