The news of the wage cuts were announced on Tuesday and while the Board maintain that it’s a short-term issue, the club has appealed to the Donegal sporting public to come out and support Harps over the final three home games of the season, commencing tonight.

To be fair, last Friday night’s 1-0 win has made the Ballybofey side favourites to avoid the drop and while Premier Division consolidation had always been the priority, it will be interesting to note if news of the pay cuts have any affect on the playing staff.

Hegarty refused to comment on the news, preferring instead to concentrate on matters on the field of play.

After last weekend's vital 1-0 win against Bray Wanderers, the team boss stressed that it would take another win or two to ensure that his team maintained its position amongst those in the top flight of the eircom League. Thirty points, he said, would rubberstamp their survival bid.

“It might take more than that and it might take less, but that’s what I believe at this stage of the season,” said Hegarty. “I wouldn’t say I’m delighted, but it’s not bad. There are some strange results recordedat the end of every season but I think that 30 points should be enough. We need another two wins from our last six games to be sure of our safety.”

St Patrick's Athletic make their way to the Twin Towns this evening and while the Dubliners may still be licking their wounds after their exit from the UEFA Cup on Tuesday evening at the hands of Hertha Berlin, they showed enough at the RDS to affirm their status as a very good outfit.

“They may well be disappointed with that result, but it won’t change the game on Friday night. If anything it will stand to them,” claimed Hegarty. “I remember from my time at Derry City, when we came back from European action, the higher tempo was still there.”

Shaun Holmes is definitely out, after picking up ankle ligament damage last Friday and he might be joined on the sidelines by Gary Beckett, another former Derry player who has been showing his worth in recent weeks. He has a slight hamstring injury and hasn’t trained thus far this week, but Hegarty will give him until shortly before kick-off to confirm his fitness.

“Last week was only the second time all season when we got the chance to play the same back four and goalkeeper as we did the week before. We defended okay against Bohemians, but ended up conceding from set-pieces but we were good at the back last week.

The plusses are slightly growing for Hegarty all the same. Last week he had to make a decision to omit a player from his squad for the first time all season, Marc Brolly being the unlucky party. Conor Gethins retuned from a hamstring injury and he is in line for a place in the squad this evening.

The Bray result certainly buoyed Hegarty and proved the wheel had turned full circle after an early season defeat at the same venue.