- Stuart Connolly
- Sat, Aug 19 2023
Finn Harps are into the quarter-finals of the Sports Direct Men's FAI Cup after a comprehensive win against Skerries Town of the Leinster Senior League at Finn Park.
They will discover their upcoming opposition on Tuesday evening.
Hutchison and Flood had Harps in a comfortable position after 15 minutes and further goals in the second-half from Ferry and O'Donnell put some gloss on the scoreline while Flood bagged his brace.
Robert McKenna was the first to get a sight of goal in this encounter with Rory Kelly equal to the strike after 60 seconds and the netminder was able to gather as the striker pounced for a potential second bite.
Harps found the net just over a minute later via the right boot of Max Hutchison who capitalised on a loose ball in the box.
With 15 minutes on the referee's stopwatch, Harps doubled their advantage with Ryan Flood tucking home a curling free kick from 25 yards out and from that point on, Harps were cruising.
Stephen Doherty let fly from range and wasn't far away from adding a third after three half hour while a Banda strike met a similar fate as it flashed wide a couple of minutes later.
Into the second-half and Harps added some extra wiggle room to their already commanding position.
Patrick Ferry found the net from close range with less than a minute gone while Sean O'Donnell made the desired impact off the bench, chipping the onrushing Woodcock with 54 minutes gone.
Flood's first strike was quite something but his second was even better, cutting inside onto his favoured left foot before firing low into the bottom left corner from 25 yards out.
That fifth goal ended the game as a competition and it petered out as the referee's stopwatch slowly but surely ticked towards the 90 minute mark.
Finn Harps: Rory Kelly; Scott Wara, Daithi McCallion, Matty Makinson(Sean O'Kane 66), Stephen Doherty(Ellis Farrar 60); Max Hutchison, Ryan Rainey, Tony McNamee(Caoimhin Porter 66), Ryan Flood(Aaron McLaughlin 60); BJ Banda, Patrick Ferry(Sean O'Donnell 52).
Subs not used: Antonio Tuta(GK), Noe Baba, Kevin Jordan, Seamas Keogh.
Booked: Doherty(56), O'Donnell(77)
Skerries Town: Liam Woodcock; Emmet Mullen(Josh Mullin 59), Paul O'Carroll, Joshua Carron, Oisin Kimmage; Chris Pollis, James Kimmage, Karl Young, Alan Leonard, Daniel Doherty(Shane Kiely 81); Robert McKenna.
Subs not used: Dylan Sweeney(GK), Alan Mooney(GK), Daniel Daly, Matthew Flynn, Shane Dennis, Enriko Egle.
Booked: O'Carroll(9), J.Kimmage(56), Leonard(81)
Referee: Damien McGraith
ExtraTime.ie Player Of The Match: Ryan Flood (Finn Harps)
