It’s a trip to Ballybofey for Treaty United on Friday as they look to end their season a high against Finn Harps.
Match Details:
Competition – SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division.
Date – Friday, October 18th.
Time – 19:45.
Venue – Finn Park, Ballybofey, Donegal.
Referee – Declan Toland
Live Coverage:
The game will be available to watch exclusively to LOITV. A one-match game pass can be purchased for €5.
Buy A Match Pass: https://www.loitv.ie/en-int/livestream/finn-harps-v-treaty-united/1798189
The Teams
Treaty United
Sitting in seventh place on 41 points, Treaty United’s sole motivation for Friday’s trip to Donegal will be the fact that matching or bettering the result of Cobh Ramblers will secure seventh place in the table. While it will matter little in terms of the big picture, securing that position would put a shine on a difficult season for Treaty while three points would see Tommy Barrett’s side end the season with the exact same points total as they had in 2023.
Treaty played out a 2-2 draw with UCD last Friday on an entertaining night at the Markets Field. Treaty took a 1-0 lead into the break thanks to a Yoyo Mahdy penalty, but UCD found themselves ahead with twenty minutes remaining. Evan O’Connor popped up with an equaliser shortly after to ensure a share of the spoils for both sides and extending Treaty’s unbeaten run to four. It could have been all three points for United but for a dubious decision by the officials who deemed that Yoyo Mahdy’s free kick did not cross the line.
Barrett’s side have put in good performances of late, even when they last fell to defeat at home to Athlone Town in September. While all involved will look to get a result on Friday, it would not be a surprise to see some experimentation with some squad players getting additional minutes. Adam O’Halloran and David Tarmey both made their fourth start of the season against the Students and Tommy Barrett may look to give those youngsters more minutes on Friday. Chris Horgan will be a concern having left the field of play with a knock against UCD.
Finn Harps
Sitting in sixth place on 46 points, Harps are coming into their third game in seven days but defeat on Monday means that the Ballybofey men have nothing to gain from this fixture. Harps hosted a much-changed Wexford FC side on Monday where they fell to a 1-3 defeat despite Wexford having ten men for over 50 minutes. Darren Murphy’s men needed to win that fixture, as well as this Friday’s meeting with Treaty, to have the slightest hope of reaching the playoffs but that defeat has put an end to their season. There are a multitude of reasons why Harps failed to reach the playoffs this season but a run of five consecutive defeats played a big part in that.
Harps have one of the better home records in the First Division and will want to finish their campaign on a high in front of the Finn Park faithful. One man who will be looking to prove a point is former Treaty United player Success Edogun. The Kilkenny native has grabbed 12 league goals in 2024 but failed to find the net in any of the last three meetings against his former side.
Previous Encounters
This marks the eighth meeting between the sides with Finn Harps just edging it in terms of wins. All three previous meetings this season have ended on a 1-0 scoreline with Harps winning at home and away in the first two meetings, while Treaty were full value for the three points when the sides met at the Markets Field in July. Treaty have won just once in three trips to Finn Park, that victory coming in August of 2023 when Dean George’s second half strike was enough to give Treaty the victory.
Treaty United Wins – 3
Draws – 0
Finn Harps Wins – 4