'We can't keep producing late wins like that, my heart won't stick it' - Murphy

Finn Harps manager Darren Murphy could be forgiven for not fully controlling his excitement on Saturday night, when his side came from 2-0 down to record a late 3-2 win with Mark Mbuli hitting a 90-minute winner against Longford Town. 

Harps got off to the worst possible start in this season opener at Strokestown Road as Chris Lyons scored twice in the opening 10 minutes to get Longford Town off to a flying in what looked like was going to be a long night ahead for the Donegal side. 

But manager Murphy said his side never panicked, even after the departure Aaron McLaughlin through injury. The message from the Harps dugout was to battle hard and stay in the game. 

“I’m sure that was an exciting game for both sets of fans, but maybe a little more for us than Longford if we go off the result, but I thought it was a really good game of football,” said an overjoyed Murphy. 

“It was nice to see two teams playing on the front foot despite us getting off to the worse possible start.  

“To be fair we hung in there and tried to get back into the game. We had a relaxed chat at half time as we tried to encourage the lads and tell them how to stop Longford from creating chances like they were creating in the first half. The lads took all of what we said on board and popped up with a late winner. 

“It’s good to start with a win, it’ll give us all a big boost for a couple of days, and you just have to be pleased with that.” 

The boost is also heightened by the impact of debutants Mbuli, Dave Cawley and Success Edogun who seemed to have silenced many critics who questioned Harps’ potential this season following the number of players they have absent.  

“People have spoken to me over the last few weeks about injuries and absent players, but I have spoken from day one to all the players and told them it’s a group effort. We’re a team and I wanted us to act like a team and I think we did that especially the lads who came off the bench,” said Murphy. 

“The changes we made during the game were positive, they impacted the game and made a difference.  

“People like to document and talk about the players that are unavailable, I want to talk about the players that are available. They are the only people who can affect a game and that includes the subs who never got on the field by encouraging their teammates from the dugout.” 

Even when everyone thought the points would be shared and Harps had done well to crawl back for a draw, it got even better as Mbuli stepped up to crack home a super winner to complete a brilliant comeback in the 90th minute. 

“I don’t think we could get results like this every week because my hair wouldn’t be able to stay as ginger as it is if we deliver late winners like that. It’s going very grey already,” joked Murphy.  

“We also couldn’t keep producing wins like this because my heart rate wouldn’t be able to stick that. 

“Our game plan was all about staying in the match when we went behind. We just had to drill belief into the players and try and go and win the game, so we needed to make subs for a bit of energy. 

“When we went 2-2, I saw we started to create a few chances when the subs came on. I’m glad the changes worked out. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t, but I stick with my decisions. Players win games and players lose games and against Longford our players stood up and won the game.”