William O'Connor: 'Every day's a school day for me at UCD'

Buncrana native and current UCD manager William O’Connor feels that while Finn Harps may have fallen into a ‘slump’ as of late, he knows that the tide in this league can change very quickly and he will be taking nothing for granted this Friday at the UCD Bowl.  

In the three league games between these two teams this season, the spoils have been shared on each occasion with their last match in the UCD Bowl back in May ending in a 3-3 draw, with Success Edogun hitting home an 89th-minute penalty to put Harps 3-2 up before Éanna Clancy levelled matters on the 94th minute. 

But all does not seem right at Finn Park currently with the Ballybofey side failing to grab a win in their last 12 games, with their last victory occurring on May 31 against Wexford. 

But with nine games to go, the push is on for both teams to be in the play-off position by the time the winter months fall. 

“We know this game is going to be a big one because the push for the play-offs is really heating up now,” O’Connor told Donegal Live.  

“Finn Harps have been up there in that position all year and no doubt they will be present somewhere around the top by the end of the season. 

“We’ve played Harps three times already this season and those games ended in three draws which carried their own stories too between men getting sent off and late goals, but we’d be expecting something similar this Friday too and we’ll be taking nothing for granted, we know it’s going to be a very difficult game.” 

Regarding Harps’ and their drop in form, O’Connor, who was the assistant manager to Andy Myler since May 2021 at UCD before taking over the role as boss, admitted that almost every team this season has had a drop in form this year and no doubt it will be a period that Finn harps will overcome soon. 

But he hopes it’s not this Friday against his UCD troops. 

“We all have to play each other over the next few weeks, there’s nine games left and I suspect there could be a few upsets along the way, so we just have to keep pushing and that will start with us trying to get a win against Finn Harps this weekend,” he said. 

“I think if you go through our league, every team has hit a slump at some stage this season. Finn Harps have been really strong all year and are probably falling into that slump now, but there’s plenty of time left in the season and it only takes one solid performance and they could be back up near the top, I just hope it won’t be against us on Friday evening.” 

Standing in third position on 44 points, six points ahead of Bray in fourth and one point behind Athlone Town in second, O’Connor is hoping to finish the season strong but admits that it hasn’t all been plane sailing this year in what has been his first full season as a League of Ireland manager. 

“I think looking at our own season, we only turned our form around maybe five weeks ago, we had a lot of draws which were killing us in terms of gaining points, but look, once we got to grips with things and started getting results, that has given us breathing space in the play-off position but we’re not relaxing just yet,” the former Cockhill Celtic man said. 

“I think we’ve only lost two games in 23 matches which is massive and that’s taken into account that we’re only in year one of our journey. A lot of this team are only in First Year at UCD and are only finding their feet. 

“I think UCD is a great place for young footballers to develop but I think working with some great staff as well has helped me as a coach. Every day’s a school day and I’m still learning on the job and I couldn’t have picked a better place for me to learn as a young manager.” 

Regardless of the scoreline on Friday, no doubt O’Connor will learn a few new lessons when he brings his Students to his native county this Friday.