Darren Murphy praises youngster Max Johnston after first Finn Harps start

Darren Murphy praised teenage attacker Max Johnston after his first 90 minutes for Finn Harps on Friday night.

The 18-year-old from Glenmaquin was a surprise inclusion in the Harps team for the 1-0 win over Treaty United.

Johnston was in from the off after catching Murphy's eye during the week in training.

The previous weekend, Johnston was among the goalscorers in a 4-2 win over Shelbourne for the Harps Under-20s.

“I had a feeling all week about the kid,” Murphy said.

“The enthusiasm is infectuous. I just love it. He has been a wee bit unlucky because we have Success (Edogun), we have Patrick (Ferry), Chris Lotefa, Mark Mbuli and Sean O'Donnell.

“All week, it was: 'I'm going to play Max'.”

Johnston began as the lone frontman with Tony McNamee, Success Edogun and Ryan Rainey behind him before being moved to a wide position in the second half.

McNamee bagged the 80^th minute winner to get Harps back to winning ways.

Last season, Johnston – who came through the schoolboy ranks of Lagan Harps and Letterkenny Rovers - made seven appearances off the bench in the First Division with Friday representing his first start.

Murphy said: “I just told him to go and enjoy the game. I told him: 'Play how you train'.

“I feel sometimes that Success gets so much physical contact from opposing defenders and I don't think other people take a wee bit of the heat off him.

“Max is the type of kid you could kick him from here to Raphoe and back and he would still come back for more, he's that honest.

“At half-time, I said to Kevin McHugh: 'I think that's the best 45 minutes that I've seen from any of my centre forwards this season'. He mastered the ugly side of the game really well.

“It was relentless for that 45 minutes and for him to do it again in the second half when we changed it up a bit their right-back came off.

“That spreads through a team and it's up to him to try to continue that now.”

McNamee slotted in the winner after Sean O'Donnell flicked Tim Hiemer's kick-out into his path. The Ramelton man coolly finished to the bottom corner and it was a goal that sealed Harps' first win in four – and a first goal in a similar sequence.

Murphy referenced McNamee as 'one of the most intelligent footballers I have had the privilege to work with' said: “The results, obviously, were disappointing, but I always felt that the performances were good.

“I spent the last week looking back over the four performances. In the four games, we created something like 45 opportunities.

“The big alarm bell was that we only had an effort on target seven times out of the 45. The rest were either wide, blocked or just a poor effort.

“We had to take belief from the fact that we were creating chances. We spent a lot of time just trying to have a wee bit more composure.”