Shamrock Rovers beat Finn Harps 3-0 in Tallaght on Monday night. The win sees Rovers go joint top of the Premier Division.
Regarding the result, Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan had no complaints.
"The better side won by a canter," Horgan told RTÉ following the game. "They're certainly at the level [to be] at the top of the division and we're at the level maybe at the bottom."
It was the scheduling of the game with which Horgan took issue. The match was originally slated to be played in May. However, due to Tallaght Stadium being unavailable at that time as it is hosting games in the U17 European Championships, the fixture was brought forward to Monday night.
As with Rovers, the match was Finn Harps' fifth game in 17 days.
"It does [take a toll] - that's not an excuse for losing the game. Shamrock Rovers played on Friday night [too]," said Horgan.
"We felt from day one when the fixtures came out that the positioning of this game was ridiculous. We gave alternative suggestions to the powers that be; even give us a week breather or reverse the fixture when Tallaght is not available. I think those were the common sense solutions to this but unfortunately it was met with deaf ears.
"That's not an excuse. If you had a month to prepare for Tallaght and they played like they did in the first half, you'd get nothing out of it either."
Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
