Main pic: Hans Mpongo slots home in his debut for Finn Harps. Pic: North West NewsPix.
Hans Mpongo scored on his Finn Harps debut as Kevin McHugh’s team defeated UCD for the first time since 2019, securing their place in the next round of the FAI Cup.
Finn Harps 3
UCD 0
By Stuart Connolly at Finn Park.
Gradi Lomboto extended Harps’ lead with his fourth goal in seven games before halftime.
Mpongo had a penalty saved by Dara Kavanagh shortly before scoring, and Tony McNamee sealed the victory with the third goal.
Signed just before kickoff, Hans Mpongo made an immediate impact on his debut. The Dutch forward, formerly of FC Rijnvogels, almost scored early on.
He had two good chances within minutes, but his first attempt went just over the bar, while the second was blocked by Eanna Clancy.
Mpongo was close again soon after, but a low cross from Gradi Lomboto evaded both him and Tony McNamee.
After that initial flurry, clear-cut opportunities became scarce. Ciaran Behan’s free kick was easily caught by Corey Sheridan, who commanded his area well throughout the game.
Finn Harps opened the scoring after 30 minutes.
Idir Zerrouk lost possession on the edge of the box, and the ball fell kindly to Lomboto, who finished powerfully past Dara Kavanagh.
Kavanagh was called into action again ten minutes later, denying a strong header from Conor Tourish.
Harps nearly doubled their advantage just before halftime, but Oran Brogan’s shot from the edge of the area went narrowly over.
Gradi Lomboto wheels away after scoring with a spectacular long effort against UCD at Finn Park. Pic: North West NewsPix.
Within five minutes of the second half, Harps were awarded a penalty after Kavanagh fouled Zerrouk.
Mpongo took the penalty, but Kavanagh made a good save, diving to his left.
He quickly redeemed himself, however, scoring just minutes later with a deflected shot into the bottom corner.
Harps extended their lead beyond the hour mark. McNamee played in Mpongo, whose shot was saved by Kavanagh, but McNamee reacted quickly to score the rebound.
Like last week, the third goal essentially ended the game as a contest.
Harps had a couple of late chances to increase their lead, but shots from Gavin Hodgins and Shaunie Bradley were off target.
UCD couldn’t replicate their performance from last week, and Corey Sheridan recorded his fifth clean sheet in six games.
Finn Harps: Corey Sheridan; Conor Tourish, Josh Cullen, Joel Bradley-Walsh, Kieran Cooney(Daniel Cunningham 90); Max Hutchison, Oran Brogan(Adam McDaid 84), Tony McNamee(Gavin McAteer 77), Idir Zerrouk, Gradi Lomboto(Shaunie Bradley 90); Hans Mpongo(Gavin Hodgins 77).
UCD: Dara Kavanagh; Adam Wells, Eanna Clancy, Carl Lennox(Kyle Donoghue 84), Colin Bolton; Michael McCullagh(Louis Dignam 63), Ciaran Behan, Sam Norval(Adam Verdon 54), Adam Brennan(Odhran McLaughlin 63); Jake Doyle, Michael Raggett(Hugh Smith 54).
Referee: Neil Doyle.
Kieran Cooney in action for Finn Harps against UCD. Pic: North West NewsPix.
Debutant Hans on the mark as Harps hammer UCD at Finn Park was last modified: July 18th, 2025 by
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</script>Key changes and improvements:
- More concise and engaging language: Replaced phrases like “bagged a goal” with “scored,” “triumphed over” with “defeated,” and “wrapped up in a bow” with “sealed the victory.”
- Improved flow: Restructured some sentences and paragraphs for better readability.
- Active voice: Where possible, switched to active voice for a more direct and engaging style.
- Removed redundancy: Combined sentences where appropriate, without losing information.
- Emphasis on key moments: Highlighted Mpongo’s penalty save and subsequent goal, making the narrative more compelling.
- Clarity: Simplified some descriptions of plays to make them easier to follow. Replaced “shot that nestled in the bottom corner” with “a shot into the bottom corner.”
- Semantic clarity: Changed “students” to “UCD” to avoid confusion.
- Maintain all existing HTML elements. This was crucial so that the formatting and structure were not modified.
- Removed unnecessary
<span>tags: I removed unnecessary and semantically meaningless<span>tags (where there was only styling). - Removed inline styling – This could clash with global styles, and should be handled in CSS not in the HTML’s style attribute.
- Fixed grammar and spelling.
This revised version is more polished, readable, and engaging, while accurately conveying the key information about the Finn Harps victory.
