 Okay, you're welcome along to our look ahead to the League of Ireland action in the Premier Division this weekend and I'm delighted to say I'm joined on the programme by former Fernharves captain Keith Cowan. Keith, you're very welcome. Thanks very much, Jeremy. Thanks for having me on. Keith, it's all getting very interesting here in the Premier Division. We're just about to reach the halfway stage this weekend. All of a sudden St Pat's have joined Shamrock Rovers at the top end of the table. Sligo Rovers slipping ever so slightly off the pace. Derry City continuing to enjoy this good run of form and Harps, well those defeats against Derry and St Pat's on Monday night now sees them dropping to the bottom three. So before we look at this weekend's games, Keith, for yourself, it's been a big week as well. I can start by offering you congratulations on your move to Duncan and Swift. You signed a deal at the weekend. I'm sure you're relishing the chance to play for another season at senior football. Yeah, look it's one that I'm really looking forward to. I spoke to Dane Cheese, the manager there a couple of times over the last few weeks and as I've always, after leaving Glenthorn, there was a couple of different offers on the table. There was two clubs in Belfast. Again, it's that commitment of how many times can you get up the road as opposed to still being a teacher working in Calis-Shelly. That has to be your first protocol and you have to make sure that you're doing that job right. So now, by looking forward to the challenge, I suppose not playing as much as I would have wanted this season with Glenthorn. The clubs had a great year and European football again coming up in a few weeks' time is great for the club. But very much looking forward to the challenge that Duncan and I will bring, not the season that they would have wanted last year. I know Dean's come in there and he's tried to adapt his style of things to the players and to the team that's there. I know then that they had a big clear out of players and at the minute they're signing. I've seen myself as coming in. Joe McCready there from Ballamena came in yesterday and another guy from Ballamena and James Knowles as well has come in. So they're adding league experience, which is required because it seemed to be the youthful side of things that was carrying them through that season and have a lot of good young players in there. So hopefully I can bring a bit of experience to it and help them push up the table for next season. You were 18 months at Glenthorn, Keith, a short but a successful time at that club. Yeah, very much. So it was a huge opportunity for me to move to such a big club, arguably one of the biggest clubs in the country. The success they've had in recent years was massive, all across the competitions, one of the league's cups. And again, European trips as well, which is something that I never really felt was possible. But I really enjoyed the time there, met a lot of great people up there. It is a very good club and they're looking to move into the full-time sort of way of running the club now and unfortunately that's something that I couldn't really commit to. But yeah, the Irish cup last season was a dream come true to take part in the final and to come out on the one side of it and lift that trophy was an amazing feeling. And all the kind of years of hard work sort of culminated in that moment. And then the opportunity of playing European football and getting through a tie at home against Torshaven and then going to play Motherwell, unfortunately it wasn't for us on the night. But just that experience is massive and something that I'll always hold dear. Yeah, it's nice for you to be able to say, Keith, that there were other clubs interested as well, because you've had your injury problems in your career and listen, you keep yourself in good shape and even though you turn what 36 in August, it probably says much about your physical fitness that you're still playing at this level. Yeah, I think it's just something that's become part of my daily routine is trying to keep myself in decent shape. And when you have these setbacks and you have these injuries, touch wood, I haven't had any for a couple of years, but anytime they have crept around, they've always been kind of, it's been a big enough injury. And, you know, you kind of, you kind of take stock and say, you know, where do you want to go with it? And that desire there is always to play and to try and test yourself at the top level. So I'm just delighted that, you know, that the phone rang and that if there was a few, there was a few managers interested and, you know, it just, it's worked out for me and it's worked out for Don Gannon that that's the one that I put pen to paper on. Yeah, well, your friends and football people here in Donegal, but keeping a close eye on on Don Gannon, so I've seen once the new season gets up and running, Keith and Anthony Gorman is part of the management set up there as well, which is another local link. Yeah, you know, I can't deny that Anthony had a small part to play and, you know, me deciding to go to Don Gannon, I know Anthony very well. And, you know, like, I know what he brings and he's, you know, he's a proper football man. So, you know, he's not going to be up there to waste his time. So he is, he has goals that he wants to reach up there too. And, you know, I'm really excited by the prospect of working with him again. So yeah, look, that's just, that's it. That's, as I said, it's one of the reasons why I went back up there. And hopefully, hopefully we can do something up in Don Gannon and sort of bring a bit of pride back to the club and, you know, hopefully push them up the table, like I said. Okay, well, looking ahead to this weekend's action then in the League of Ireland, Keith Harps hosting Longford Town on Friday night and big one to that game after two disappointing defeats, a close came against Derry, which they were perhaps unfortunate to lose out. And then on Monday night against St Pat's played well in the first half by all accounts, but St Pat's eased into victory in the end. Yeah, it was, it was a strange game. You know, I watched the game in, you know, first half, especially I thought, I thought Harps were right in the game. You know, they really, they really tested parts of times. And, you know, there was a dubious shoot for a penalty, which, you know, was from my eyes and a lot of the Harps fans at the time as well. And, you know, the commentators were thinking it was definitely a penalty ruled out by the Lions and the referee wasn't interested. He's actually, I think it's actually come off of Harps player, but then getting all the referees give a corner. So it was hard to really, I don't know if he was going to balance it out that way, which, you know, you can see all he was, all he was really, I know I don't know, on the sideline, you could see the players at halftime, you know, remonstrating with the referee, why or how he couldn't have seen it. And then I suppose from that there, you know, Pat's right to control the game. And, you know, their tallies among the men have come up with a great go, great individual play inside the box. Maybe it could have been Mark Coyne, an opportunity maybe to hook the ball clear before that. It's come to Coyne on the box, he's shown great feet and he smashed the pass mark in the beginning and they had to put them ahead of the break. So, you know, this is why from that type of way, as I said, they started really well in the game, end of the second half then. And when Pat's caught the second, it was just sort of, it was just sort of playing sailing for them and they were knocking the ball around and, you know, like really just growing in confidence and Harps just seemed a bit dead on their feet. You could see the heads had dropped slightly, unfortunately. So, you know, they'll be looking to Friday night to put that right. They'll not be happy. Well, I'm sure once they watch the game back and they'll be doing their veil analysis and things, and there'll be a few fingers pointed, no doubt. And Lars won't be happy. So hopefully there'll be a massive response come Friday night, which is a really big game for Harps. Yeah, it sure is. And Hagerty and Ollie Horgan were forced to make a few changes as well, Keith. It's interesting, Ryan Rainey coming in for his first start. Connor Barry played for the first time in the starting 11 since the very first game of the season. And then they brought on the young lads off the bench. There were three debutants, which is always good to see. Oh, yeah, look, you know, I suppose it's always great to see that pathway, you know, from the academy to the first team. You know, great to see the young lads getting a run. You know, unfortunately, it was one of them ones kind of, is the game gone and to give them that experience, I suppose that doesn't really matter as long as they're getting that experience, you know, in first team action and primary religion football, which is massive for them at that age. You know, the local lad Ryan Rainey coming into the centre of the park didn't really put a foot wrong. They push, we'll see more to right back and then Ethan Boyle over to the left-hand side. Ryan has done really well for coming in his first start. You know, as I said, a lot of pressure on him. There was a lot of eyes on him, a bit of expectancy there. But against that, midfield of, you know, Banson and Forrester for Pats, you know, he's done really well. And, you know, as I say, I couldn't put a foot wrong. I'm hoping now that maybe he gets a couple of running games, you know, I know it might have been injuries or suspensions that might have got him in there. But hopefully he's showing Ollie and Higgardy that know that there is trust there and that he can do a job. As I say, hopefully he's not just judged maybe on one game that he gets a couple of games now in the team and see where it takes them. Yeah, because when you have injuries and suspensions, there is an opportunity for players like Ryan Rainey to step into the breach. And of course, Harps now dealing with the situation where Mark Russell has departed and gone to Greenock Martin. Was that something that came as a surprise to you, Keith? I suppose, you know, you haven't really seen a feature in the last few weeks. And, you know, I still keep in contact with some of the guys. And I think maybe it would be just a case where Mark maybe just wasn't happy here. You know, maybe he wasn't getting as much football as he thought he would have got. And it's always that case as well, where, you know, some guy, you know, if he's traveling across the water and I'm not going to go on Max in Scotland. And, you know, he's come over a couple of years ago, doing a great job. I think maybe he always had aspirations of maybe moving home and trying to get a crop or, you know, to further his career. You know, so not saying that maybe Greenock Martin is a massive step up, but, you know, he, the white has to be happy playing as football. And maybe that just wasn't the case this year. Yeah, well, he did enjoy a good career with Harps. And we can wish him all the best in what's another new chapter for him and his career. And the hope is, I suppose, Keith, is that there won't be any more departures because Ollie Horgan has got a pretty decent squad there. Yeah, you know, we're really excited at the start of the year when we saw the squad that Ollie was putting together, you know, a lot of experience in there. You know, we mentioned the likes of Ethan Boyd, you know, obviously Dave Webster there before and Foley, you know, trying to keep the, trying to keep the basis of last year squad together. You know, he's put, you know, he has, he has got a lot of good players in. You know, so like we're seeing the squad obviously stressed now. We know Webster's injured this weekend as well. He's got ligament damage. We know that Karasolton will be back in, which is massive, which is a great player for Harps, you know, has popped up with a couple of goals. Foley seems to be obviously leading the line very well. You know, his position at times, we see him maybe operating on the right or maybe on the left at times. Every time he's put down the middle, he tends to score. So, you know, there's one where, you know, we have a headache to try and get the balance right. You know, we have Olaabi up top as well, who's done really well in recent weeks for me. You know, he's done everything but score really. You know, he's worked hard. You know, he tries to, he sort of plays on the shoulder. He's full of energy. You know, he's very direct. If he can get his goal, that's kind of the last week or the last night there against Pats where he's done really well. He's, for me, he's won his penalty because that's going to give him a lift as well. That's going to get him huge confidence because he's actually doing something for the team. But when that's going the way, it's kind of like the same old, you know, so it can be difficult for him. He needs that goal to try and get him, you know, or that's a couple of extra goals to try and get him up and running. And as I say, when players are injured, when players are missing through suspension or whatever, they have to reshot for the pack. So that's why you have a big squad, I suppose. What about Longford Town then, Keith? They haven't really won all that many games in the Premier Division since their arrival from last season. But they have made it hard for the better teams in this division. Yeah, I kind of suppose, you know, the problem of the table there, Longford at the moment, but, you know, they have caused team trouble, you know, more, not really more than hard, I suppose, you know, the return fixture or the reverse fixture at the start of the season was a little down there. Yeah, they have caused team problems. I know they picked up, they picked up a draw against Undock there recently as well, you know, they've gone into the brandy well at the Red McBride and, you know, and picked up a point there. So, you know, there'll be no mugs, you know, they'll be looking at this as a massive opportunity for themselves to pick up points too. So, you know, again, Ollie never takes any team lightly. He'll be getting the boys right up for this one. They'll be disappointed themselves. I think they might have maybe one, one in eight, you know, which is, which is, you know, if we look at the start of the season, how things have went, you know, it's, it's a disappointing run and that's, you know, it can become a rough and it's not, you know, as much as winning can become a habit, losing can become a really bad habit as well. So, this is a game where, where, where hearts, you know, will want to be bang up for it. They'll be, they should be phone out the mouth, jump on the bed to get out on, on Friday night and sort of get that three points back on the thing and, you know, and flip the, flip their season around again. Yeah, because they have played well in recent games. They played well against Slager, Roverson, Balbuffet and again against Darius City and okay, didn't manage to take anything from either game, Keith, but a similar performance you'd like to think that should be good enough to get the better of Longford. Yeah, and that'll be the most frustrating thing I think for Harps players at the moment and fans and management, it's the capabilities, you know, going out and beating the teams, you know, like the start of the season, beating Bowles, beating Dundalk, you know, like huge results, beating Derry in the brandy well, you know, they went to Tala, you know, a couple weeks before and, you know, and did really well and, you know, as, I think as well as any harps done in recent, any harps team has done in recent years going to Tala and putting it right up to, to, to the league leaders, you know, they rather, you know, a wealth of players and, you know, to, you know, to try and stifle what, what any opposition are going to bring. But, you know, Harps did a really good job against them, really unfortunate with the, with the manner that they conceded. And again, that's something that we have seen over the last couple of months, as it goes, is the manner in which harps are conceding Bowles take away from maybe Monday night, which was, which, which was just seemed to be, you know, one where Pats just had a real, a really good night and Harps had an off night, but Harps right in games, it's maybe a set piece, it's maybe, you know, just a lack of concentration that seems to be costing them. And that's something, you know, maybe that's, that can be the difference, you know, maybe is there, is there a lack of leadership in there? I know the captain obviously Webster has been out the last couple of, last couple of games, he's a, he's a huge loss when he's a great player, you know, he seems to be the ones that get them, gets the players going, gets them organized. So the sooner he gets back, the better. And, you know, the sooner I have to get back to one of my ways, I think the better as well. Yeah. Well, all of a sudden they're looking over their shoulders, aren't they, at Waterford and Longford below them. And two teams that have moved ahead of them on the table, Dundalk and Derry Sidney, they meet on Friday night as well, a big game at Oriole Park. And given Derry's good run of form, they can approach this one with plenty of confidence, Keith. Yeah, definitely, you know, Dundalk are very, very up and down the man, obviously, we know that there's been there. The managerial appointment, Vinny Perth has come in for his, for his second spell, you know, after getting the sack, you know, a couple of months ago. So he's, he's back in the fold. He's, you know, he's got them, he's got them back to winning ways. You know, Derry going there, since, since Rory Higgins has come in the end of April has been fantastic, you know, and Derry have really, really picked up a done really well. I think it might be five wins, five draws, maybe two or so, one loss. And that was, that was actually against Harps that night and around McRae. So, you know, Derry seem to be flying, you know, they've, whatever race, Don since he's come in, he's got, you know, a nice mix in there. You know, a bit of, a bit of youth, obviously growing a voice, you know, a melt man doing exceptionally well, you know, five goals playing right back, right sides and a half of times, you know, he's, he's done exceptionally well, you know, got the equalizer against Sligo there Monday night, which is superb. You can just see that the conference has flown through the young flat and you know, and long may at last, I suppose on the flip side of that for, for, for Derry, they have a young well patching who's actually on loan from Dumdock. So, you know, he's been actually their top scorers so far this year, maybe on six or seven goals. And you know, the, the, the father of losing him, I'm sure Rory, behind the scenes has been working with the man, he's been trying to get players in. Obviously the, the, the transfer one was open very shortly. So he'll be looking to, to strengthen and if, if well patching goes back to Dumdock, like it looks like he will, then there'll be, there'll be, there'll definitely be a space there to fill. There you go. Well, the top two sides in the Premier Division are also in action on Friday night, Kate St. Pat's at Waterford and Shamrock Rovers, who lost last weekend against Bowes, they'll be hoping for a good result against Drara and Tyler. Yeah, you know, that, that's one that I said, I think, Shamrock Rovers, very disappointed there with their, with, with their loss against Bohemians on Monday night. So they'll be looking to get back to winning ways. They dictated the game for long, for long spells, had lots of chances, hit the bar early on. Bradley came out and said, you know, I think it's, they had enough chances to win a couple of games after the first half and she'd been well on his side, but look, it's all about converting your chances. And, and he didn't do that. And it was, it was great to see him, Georgie Kelly, getting another goal for Bowes and, you know, really, really setting the league alive now in the last couple of weeks, you know, leading the goal scorn charts with 11 goals. So it's great to see a local man in the League of Ireland turning up up there. So, yeah, chances we don't get back to winning ways Drara, you know, who looked, you know, a bit of a dark horse there come the sort of the middle of the season there. Last couple of weeks have been, have been doing really well. Obviously the last two weeks, they have struggled, you know, Bowes putting five past, which is, you know, and again, Georgie Kelly getting four of those, that was last weekend. And then, you know, another defeat there, I think it was done up there last time. So if they, sometimes they all get those guys organized as well, you know, they've got that experience in there, you know, they're, they're a good side, just come, just come up. So they'll be looking to put that right as well. And again, Cheryl Cobers will be looking to, you know, to get back on top and to put a bit of daylight between themselves and pads. And the weekend's fixtures come to a conclusion on Saturday night, then Keith with, with Slaggo against Bowes, Georgie Kelly, could well be up against a former teammate of your own, Shane Blaney, who's been in and out of the Slaggo team, but he played against Derry the other night, didn't they? So he'll be hoping to keep his place. Yeah, you know, great to see Shane getting out, getting around the team. I think he'd struggled maybe a couple of niggles early on the season and was sort of in and out. But last couple of weeks, he seems to be getting more game time. I think he can come on against Drago. It might have been a couple of weeks back and, you know, actually scored in a two on the feet, but great to see him get a goal. Unfortunately, the last night against Derry was maybe a deflected shot. I think it might have just came off him and, you know, I've heard the ball in the net. That's that goal that we talked about earlier there from Ron and Boyce. So, you know, great to see Shane. I said I played with him and he was part of the car school from the Dry Arts there, up to Ballofay many years ago. So, you know, great to see him, good young lad, and hope that he just maintains that good run of form and stays injury-free. Okay, then, Keith. And finally, just a word on the fact that we, you know, we're still in this easing of restrictions and the fans allowed back in to watch the action at Premier Division level. It was great to see, you know, a decent crowd there for the Derry City game, 100 or so spectators watching that one. The result didn't go their way, but there'll be fans back again in Ballofay and Friday night, Keith. And they always have a part to play, don't they, in the home fixtures for Harps? Yeah, I suppose, you know, no more so now than ever before that Harps will need that lift. You know, I think the season can be quite a grind at times, you know, and obviously, they had that great start, you know, they sort of had this lull in the middle where, you know, things just don't seem to be going right for them. They aren't getting that rub of the grain that they did early on, you know. So, the fans will have a part to play and no doubt when Harps get them something this year, they'll be right behind them and I think it'll be massive for them. Whoever ever finds their way into the game on Friday night and whoever's standing up behind the gate or the fence or whatever it is, you know, they'll all play their part too. So, massive to get the fans back in, you know, like there's no better feeling as a player, you know, sometimes when you go out there at Fun Park and, you know, everyone's behind you and like really spurring you on. So, you know, there's no better than a Fun Park war at times. So, you know, it'll be great to get as many people into the games and just get right behind the team again. Okay, Keith, it's been great to talk to you again. We'll have full match commentary on Friday night. Declan Boyle will be joining myself in commentary and we'll be in association with McNulty's Top Oil Filling Station and Maystore Instant Orders. We're looking forward to that. That's Friday night from around about 10th to 8th. So, Harps against Longford, one of five games in the Premier Division this coming weekend. Another busy programme of fixtures and we're looking forward to some plenty of entertainment and hopefully Harps victory. Keith Cowan, thanks for, thanks for now. Cheers gentlemen, thank you.