Summer is well are truly in the air in the Kingdom. With temperatures above 20 degrees all week long, there is a buzz around Mounthawk Park as the long evenings are producing some fantastic football matches in Tralee.
Colin Healy became the first Kerry FC manager to secure a win in their first league game in charge last Friday night against Treaty United. Although Colin may have enjoyed sitting in the back row of the stand, his view will be about 50 yards closer on Friday as he makes his dugout debut against Wexford FC.
The Kingdom are off the back of a first-ever back-to-back in the league, with two closely fought victories away to UCD and a Munster Derby win over Treaty United in Tralee last week. Kerry will be going for an unprecedented 3 wins in a row tomorrow night, and in doing so, may go within a point of the playoff places.
But standing in Kerry’s way is a strong Wexford FC side who have taken a lot of points away from Mounthawk Park in the past. The home side will be looking to put an end to the statistic. The previous league meeting between the sides ended in a Kerry FC win in Ferrycarrig Park, and the Kingdom will be looking to do the double over the yellowbellies’ for the first time.
Wexford come into this one off the back of a couple of difficult results. 3 defeats in a row against UCD, Longford and Cobh Ramblers respectively, Stephen Elliott’s side will be looking to regain some form and keep their play-off place in tacked come 10 pm on Friday night.
Matchday 15
Kerry FC v Wexford FC – Friday, May 16th – 19:45 Kick Off – Mounthawk Park
Previous Meetings – All Competitions
Kerry FC Wins 1 Draws 2 Wexford FC Wins 6
Did You Know?
Kerry’s victory in this fixture earlier this season was the club’s sole victory over Wexford in over 2 seasons of trying. Last week, Kerry secured back-to-back league wins in a single season for this first time and are going for an unprecedented 3 in a row tomorrow night.
Injury Update
Colin Healy gave some injury updates in his weekly chat with the media on Tuesday. Ryan Kelliher suffered a knee injury away to UCD two weeks ago, and the club are awaiting an update from the medical team regarding the severity of the injury. Luke Palmer returns from suspension but picked up a foot injury in training, so will be assessed this week. Nathan Gleeson returned for the first time in 10 weeks on Friday night as he made a cameo appearance in our 1-0 win over Treaty United.
What they said?
Colin Healy – “We definitely don’t underestimate any team in this league or any opposition that we play. We focus on ourselves first and foremost. Obviously, we will take a look at them during the week, but there is no doubt that we will focus on ourselves and we will be ready for the game on Friday. The support is massive, and when you are defending, especially towards the end of the game, every clearance and every save gets a huge reaction from the supporters and the players really feel that. They thrive off it. Even going back to when I was playing, you hear the crowd, and it drives you on. Hopefully, that continues and the crowds keep coming in and driving this team forward. That’s what we want, it was a good night Friday night, so hopefully we will have many more nights like that to come.”
