Match Report – Wexford FC v Kerry FC

REPORT:
SSE AIRTRICITY MEN’S FIRST DIVISION

MATCH DAY 16: WEXFORD FC 2-0 KERRY FC

Kerry FC faced another long journey on Friday evening as they took on Wexford FC in Ferrycarrig Park. There was no separating the two sides when Wexford came to Mounthawk Park in March. Goals from Sean O’Connell and Aaron Dobbs meant that the spoils were shared on that occasion which was the first time Kerry had gained any points against the South Easterners. They hoped to do one better on the evening as Kerry were in the middle of a poor run of form with five straight losses to their name.

Captain Andy Spain returned to the side and the starting eleven for the first time since he went off injured against Cork City at the beginning of May. Valerii Dolia made his first start for the Kingdom as he starts to make himself a regular on the team sheet following a long absence through injury. Ethan Kos picked up another start for himself as he is starting to put a marker down on the eleven as he did when he first came to the club in the summer window last year.

Wexford FC sat sixth before the game in the league table. A win on the night and they could put themselves into the playoff places as the side have been in a rich vein of form lately having been unbeaten since the twenty-seventh of April spanning over four games and having only lost three times all season.

First Half
Kerry had the two best opening chances of the game. The first came when Ronan Teahan made space outside the box on the right wing to cross it into Ryan Kelliher. Although Kelliher got on the end of the cross his header was too tame and went straight into the hands of Owen Mason. The second came from Valerii Dolia who moved with the ball in space in the midfield area and took a shot on from twenty-five yards out. The shot was on target but was gathered again easily by Mason in the Wexford net. A positive start from the Kingdom who were eager to get in front as early as possible.

Even with the great Kerry FC start, it was Wexford who took the lead in the twenty-fourth minute. Andy Spain was dispossessed in the attacking half by Ethan Boyle who seemed to have two hands on the Kerry captain as he went down but the play was waved on and Wexford went forward. The ball eventually came back to Boyle who gave a diagonal pass to Mike Rowe on the right wing as his first-time cross into the six-yard box was tapped in home by Thomas Oluwa.

Matters became worse for Kerry FC when seven minutes later the home side doubled their advantage. It started from a short corner for Kerry FC that was played back to Sean McGrath for a better angle on the cross. His cross was blocked down by the hands of Reece Webb, but nothing was called as Wexford broke on the attack. The ball then came to Mark Hanratty after a couple of attempts to get the ball into the area and he lined up a shot from just inside the D. A great strike that ended in the bottom left corner which Antonio Tuta could do nothing about.

Kerry went in at the break trailing by two goals and felt very hard done by from two goals they conceded that probably should not have gotten as far as they did when they had two fair shouts for fouls in the build-up. It would be tough for the Kingdom to come back out and try to level the game from that point, but they do not seem to drop their heads too easily and the Kerry fans who made the long trip to the southeast knew they would go for it.

Second Half
Wexford nearly added to their advantage nine minutes after the restart when a mistake in clearing the ball at the back had Mikie Rowe inside the area. His half-volley attempt was saved brilliantly by Tuta and the follow up from Thomas Oluwa was nothing short of a sitter as he put his chances wide of Tuta’s right hand post.

The half dragged on from that point with a lot of sloppy play from both sides as neither really took the bull by the horns to get another goal in the game. Kerry made a couple of attacking changes to liven up the forward line with Victor Udeze, Nathan Gleeson and Kennedy Amechi coming on for Valerii Dolia, Sean McGrath and Sean O’Connell.

The last big chance of the game fell to Ryan Kelliher who took a snapshot from the left side of the outer box but unfortunately, there was not enough curl on it to direct it into that bottom right corner. The game got away from Kerry in the end and Wexford FC came out comfortable 2-0 winners.

Kerry FC now on six straight losses need to dust themselves off as they are back at home next Friday to take on Finn Harps who make the long trip down from Ballybofey.