Finn Harps FC 'Harps': Finn Harps v Shelbourne, 12 January 2002 matchday programme — FAI Carlsberg Cup third round; the editor on the Paul Marney affair

Official Finn Harps match day programme, 'HARPS'. Finn Harps v Shelbourne, FAI CARLSBERG CUP THIRD ROUND, Finn Park, Ballybofey, Saturday 12 January 2002. eircom League. Official sponsor vfm, The Wood Floor Superstore.

Editor Joe Doherty gives his whole column to the biggest story in Irish football that winter: 'The Paul Marney affair has made the back pages of all the domestic papers this week — and it's a story which has overshadowed everything else in the process. Again the profile of the eircom League has taken a battering and again the League critics are having a field day. At the end of the day there are no winners in this — not even St Pat's — and everyone will agree that the eircom League rulebook needs to be re-written from start to finish.'

He walks through the arbitration hearing and the nine points deducted from and partly restored to St Patrick's Athletic over an ineligible player, notes the whole business had taken six months, and warns what will happen 'if St Pat's are champions, and the likes of Derry City, Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne are just one or two points behind them'. He also records reports that Shelbourne might withdraw from the FAI Cup, and hopes the tie 'lives up to its billing as the tie of the round'.

The directory names JONATHAN SPEAK as manager, with Sean McGowan on the Under-21s and Charlie McGeever running the USL side. A contemporaneous account of a scandal that reshaped a League of Ireland season.

Author: Finn Harps Football Club

Publisher: Finn Harps Football Club

Publication Date: 2002

Binding: Single Issue Magazine

Condition: Used - Very Good