Finn Harps manager has expressed his satisfaction with the decision of Danny Morrissey to join his team for the 2017 League of Ireland Premier Division season. The 22-year-old striker signed for Harps at the weekend after successful negotiations were concluded with the Harps boss in Cork. Horgan says he personally, as well as the club, are very pleased that a player of Danny Morrissey’s calibre has opted to join Finn Harps. “We are delighted to get Danny on board for next season. I have known Danny a number of years now and always had a high opinion of him. I think he will fit in great with us, both with his ability and his work rate. The move should be of benefit from the club point of view as well as for Danny himself who needs to play consistently” Horgan said.
Morrissey is the third player to have signed after Ciaran Coll and Gareth Harkin earlier this month renewed their contracts at Finn Park for another season. Ryan McConnell, who is currently on loan at Irish League side Ballinamallard, is the only other player under contract with Harps.
So the manager has plenty of hard work ahead of him in the coming weeks in terms of re-signing as many of last season’s squad as possible and trying to attract more new faces to Ballybofey. He must find replacements for Kevin McHugh who has retired and Keith Cowan who will not play in 2017 as he rehabs from a serious knee injury sustained in a league game against Cork City a couple of months ago at Finn Park.
“I knew Ollie quite well when I was in the Irish international schoolboys side as he was the manager then and that was one of the reasons I decided to join Harps” Morrissey said.
The striker had played underage with his native Middleton in the east of the county before signing for Cork City as a 16-year-old in 2010. And the youngster made his senior debut for the club that season. At different times injuries limited his first team appearances but his best season with the Turners Cross club was 2013 when his form attracted interest from cross-channel clubs and there were a few trials but no move materialized.
Last season Morrissey played just a couple of League games under John Caufield Cork but still managed to score two goals in a game against Longford Town and he was also on the mark against Derry City. He netted the winner in a 1-0 FAI Cup semi-final win over Bray Wanderers in 2015. While his appearances were very limited in the season gone by Morrissey was a regular on the bench but disappointingly for him was left out of the match day squad for the dramatic late extra-time FAI Cup Final victory over Dundalk at the Aviva at the beginning of the month.
“The boys were going very well from early in the season so it was very hard to get into the team. Things were going well in the League and Europe and that made it very difficult for me. And that was one of the deciding factors in that Ollie is going to give me the chance of regular team football at Finn Harps. I want to prove myself and the only way you can do that is by playing more games. My job will be to score goals and help the team to get as many points as possible” Morrissey said.
It will be the 22-year-old’s first time to move away from Cork but he is clearly relishing the new challenge. “I saw at first hand the passion that the fans have for Harps when we played them up in Ballybofey a couple of months ago and we just managed to get a 1-0 win. I’m going up there at the beginning of January just before pre-season starts. I’m really looking forward to the new challenge and getting settled into new accommodation in Letterkenny” Morrissey concluded.
