UCD boss William O’Connor aiming to upset Finn Harps momentum

William O’Connor fields a call on Tuesday afternoon and he’s deep in the middle of some Finn Harps homework.

The Buncrana native brings third-placed UCD side to Ballybofey on Friday night hoping to close the gap on the top two in the League of Ireland First Division.

UCD led Kerry 1-0 at half-time on Monday night but shipped a second-half leveller to eventually split the points.

Pre-season favourites Cork City currently lead the way with 18 points from their eight outings to date. However, tucked right in behind them, a single point off their coattails, are Finn Harps.

Harps of course finished second from bottom last term under Dave Rogers. Well, having talked the talk, the Liverpudlian failed to walk the walk and, in the end, he just walked.

With a handful of games to go, he walked away after a 5-1 away drubbing to Cobh Rambers. Rogers had been brought in as Ollie Horgan’s replacement on a long-term deal following the club’s relegation from the Premier Division.

Rogers worked at the Liverpool Academy, in the USA and India and was Nottingham Forest’s Under-21 manager before taking the reins in Ballybofey in late 2022.

However, the wheels wobbled more or less from the off under his stewardship and, in the end, after chucking in the towel, it was left to assistant Darren Murphy to pick up the pieces.

The decision-makers on Navenny Street would eventually decide to give Murphy the job permanently.

Approaching the nine-game mark, the first real juncture in the season, it’s not beyond the realms that the understated Murphy, and his players, could well be sitting top of the pile when the floodlights are finally dimmed late Friday night.

O’Connor has watched from a distance and admits he’s impressed by Harps’ early traction.

He had been the assistant manager to Andy Myler at UCD but took over the reins himself, last term, after relegation from the top tier.

A woodwork teacher at Balbriggan Community School, O’Connor previously worked as a coach on Ollie Horgan’s backroom staff at Finn Harps.

The former Cockhill Celtic man explains that he’s just pressed pause midway through the second-half of Harps’ 2-0 home win over Bray Wanders on Monday night.

“Harps are flying - they are going very well,” he told DonegalLive “Bray are a very good side so Monday was another excellent result.

“It’s early to be looking at league tables, we’re just looking for consistency and better performances. We had a good start away to Bray but lost the next three and that was really disappointing.

“We got back on track with three wins on the bounce but the draw on Monday, we felt we should have been picking up the three points there. So you could probably describe it as a mixed kinda bag.

“We’ll be looking to get back on track on Friday night in Ballybofey. It probably takes that first round of nine fixtures for the league to begin to settle down. You have a feel for it a little more.

“For ourselves, it’s a new group of players there and they’re all young lads. But there is great potential there and so the aim is to coax all that along”.

The likes of Michael Gallagher, Sam Todd and Jack Keaney have all departed UCD in recent times so that fusion of Donegal flavour isn’t as potent as it once was.

But O’Connor is well settled at Belfield having first come in under Myler back in 2021.

“They are all great lads that did really well for UCD when they were here. I’ve been here now for a few years. It’s a brilliant place to be involved at. For my own development, it’s my first time managing so it’s a learning curve for me also.

“The set-up and facilities with the university and so on, they’re top class. And with all our lads students, we have pretty good access to them all. And we have some great players coming through.

“We’ve a few lads from the U-19s that are actually still Leaving Cert. We’d train six days a week. We’d be on the pitch, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and play Friday. But they’d do gym work on Saturday and Tuesday.

“It’s not full-time in the sense that it is at other clubs but we have really good access to them. It’s a great foundation for them if they do move on or eventually go on to play full-time football.

“It’s a brilliant environment for young lads coming up and even for young management and coaches”.