Cats cut to the Marrow! - March 1,
2001
Kilkenny City 0 Finn Harps 1
Finn Harps dug one foot out of the Eircom premier relegation mire with a crucial victory at Buckley Park on Tuesday night - James Morrow grabbing the only goal of the game with just four minutes left on the clock.
This was one the Donegal side simply had to win and time was running out on Harps' top-flight survival when Fergal Harkin slipped Marrow in behind the Kilkenny back four. The Englishman finished coolly from fourteen yards.
With so much at stake Harps started nervously and Kilkenny's Brian Jackson, Carlos Rocha and Mick O'Byrne all had first-half chances.
But after the break it was all Harps and they really should have scored on 72 minutes when Harkin beat 'keeper Matt Nelson but Robbie Brunton got back to hoof the ball away to safety.
Nelson then saved well from Kevin McHugh and Ray Kenny before Shane Bradley failed to get a close-range header on target.
But Marrow came to the rescue and the relegation battle isn't over yet, with Harps due to meet UCD in a six-pointer in a fortnight's time.
Kilkenny City: Nelson, O'Hanlon, Brunton, Brennan, Mulcahy, Johnston, Purdy, McGrath, Rocha, O'Byrne, Jackson
Subs: O'Neill for Jackson 59, Murphy for Johnston 77
Finn Harps: D Bradley, Kenny, Minnock, Fitzhenry, S Bradley, McGrenaghan, Mohan, Kenny, Marrow, McHugh, Harkin
Subs: Speak for McHugh 74, Scanlon for Fitzhenry 88
Goal: Marrow 86
Referee: J O'Neill (Waterford)