'We have the second worst budget yet we're still competing' - Darren Murphy

There are 12 First Division games left for Darren Murphy and his Finn Harps side this season, and while the Ballybofey club has most recently been eliminated from the FAI Cup following their loss to Cork City, the Harps boss admitted he will not sit around feeling sorry for himself. 

It was déjà vu at Turner’s Cross as Finn Harps completed their 22-hour round trip back to Ballybofey lamenting a 1-0 defeat against Cork City for the second time in a week. 

And while Murphy admitted in Cork at the weekend that while he was seeking a victory, he knows that he can take real positives knowing that his side competed against who he called “the best team in the league”. 

It was a tough week after travelling such a long journey twice only to gain nothing from it, but for Murphy, it’s all about looking forward and focusing on his side’s battle with Treaty United this Friday in Limerick. 

“I think looking at it as a whole, it was a difficult eight days,” Murphy admitted. “We had to travel to Cork twice in one week and we finished with two difficult results, mainly because we competed against the best team in the country in our division.  

“We gave a good account of ourselves down there both times but unfortunately, we came out the wrong side twice. 

“We weren't eliminated from the Cup through a mistake or a bad call, we’re out through Cork scoring a very good goal, but we have to now move on from that and dust ourselves down. 

“We have another really long journey this Friday to Treaty United in Limerick, which is only 30 minutes away from Cork, so we’re looking forward to getting going again and we’ll be looking for a result.” 

With a limited squad against Cork, with David Cawley and Stephen Doherty out through injury and Seán Patton unavailable due to his trial at Portsmouth, while Darragh Coyle picked up a “long-term injury” in the midweek friendly against Ballinamallard United, Murphy’s optimism towards his side’s performance was understandable despite the result. 

Now entering into the final quarter of the league season, the Harps manager knows it’s all to play for as they attempt to make the play-offs, something that could’ve been seen as unlikely at the start of the season due to the club’s poor 2023 league campaign. 

“I think when you look at the year so far in the club, at the start of the year, the optimism in the club was at an all-time low because of the previous seasons. But now I think the team has lifted the optimism around the club and you can hear it when people start talking about the play-offs and stuff like that, and that credit has to go to the players,” Murphy said. 

“Were the play-offs a target at the start of the season? I doubt it, purely because of where we were the last few seasons, but I think with this group of players, there’s something different about them. 

“I think they have a great chance to go far, but it’s not going to be easy. We have seven games away from Finn Park now and five of those are really tough, including the one this Friday but we’re capable of getting results against those teams. 

“I think if you take Cork out of it there’s nothing separating the teams in this league. We’re three points off third spot but we’re only five points off seventh, so it goes to show the level of competition in this league, and every manager, including myself, will be believing that their side has a chance of getting to a play-off.” 

Despite the strong start to the season that was a major push factor in the club sitting where they currently are, recent results have resulted in the discussion of the team plateauing with Harps having only won two games since May 31. 

But Murphy wishes for people to look more logically at the entire situation rather than just on the wins and losses. 

“I think for us, it’s going to be hard because we knew we were always going to have a low squad, but I was never one of those people that was constantly shouting from the rooftops about our position when things at the start were going well, so I’m not going to be down in the dumps now,” he said. 

“People can talk about this result or that result, we’ve had difficult games and we’ve competed with some of the top sides in the country. Like we drew at home to UCD with 10 men and I don’t think we got great credit for that. We competed really well both times against Cork too, so people can’t just look at the defeats, there’s more to it than that. 

“I think people need to realise where we are as a football club. We have the second lowest budget in our league, which means there are eight teams with a greater budget than us and we’re still competing with them, that’s where we are. 

“We played against a Cork side twice in one week and we played really well, yet they have a budget four times greater than us, so I think people need to understand that and give the players the credit they deserve. 

“We have young players that are competing at a level that is really new to them, that’s another factor, yet they have contributed huge amounts to our squad this season.  

“I don’t know who will be in charge next season or the season after, but whoever it is, I think that person will look back on this year and see that it was this season where young players in Harps got genuine experience of League of Ireland football and learned their craft and carried the club forward. That’s the biggest positive I’ll take away from this season.”