City aim to bounce back by beating Harps

CORK CITY will look to get straight back into the title race tonight as they face a tough trip to Ballybofey to face Finn Harps (kick-off 6pm).

City were beaten 3-2 in a thriller against Waterford at Turner’s Cross last week, their first league loss of the season. Manager Tommy Dunne is without Davin O’Neill and the suspended Gavin Kavanagh, but sees the trip to Donegal as the perfect place to get their promotion hunt back on track.

“It was always possible our unbeaten run would come to an end at some point, but it is important for us to bounce back ,” said Dunne.

“We know that we need to be a lot better than last week. We’ve had a look back at the Waterford game during the week. We played well for the first 20 minutes, but then we started making mistakes which allowed them into the game. In the second-half we created numerous chances but we gave away really bad goals, and when you give goals away like that, you give yourself a mountain to climb.

“People are talking about other teams, but we are focused on our own performances and our own results.”

Harps, for their part, lost assistant manager Paddy Foy this week as he stepped down to take a break from football. Harps manager Peter Hutton re-signed as a player yesterday in order to play for the club but his registration is not complete so he will sit out the game, along with other new signings Stephen O’Donnell, John Paul Gallagher and Sean McCarron.