Having finished one place above the bottom two in the 2016 season and being a small club with limited resources, Finn Harps were among everyone's favourites to go down this season and go down they did, but not without a fight.
Ollie Horgan has installed a true siege mentality into his players from the start of the season, constantly repeating in his interviews that the Harps are playing against everyone's predictions and getting his side to play a brave brand of football that resulted in them scoring 50% more goals than they did in the 2016 season.
The passion of Horgan and his players was best illustrated by the fact that the Harps boss was sent off no less than three times over the course of the season, while that the likes of Paddy McCourt and Barry Molloy both featured in the majority of their games despite carrying recurring injuries throughout the course of the season.
It was an approach that worked for a long time, as the Harps actually spent the majority of the season outside of the relegation places. However, one could say that they eventually ran out of steam, as they lost nine of their last ten games and had their relegation confirmed with two games left to play.
In the end, it was an admirable battle against the odds for Horgan and his men and it remains to be seen if it will be Horgan that will try to guide the Harps back into the top flight.
