Kerry FC make one of the longest trips in the League of Ireland on Friday night as players & supporters make the 824km round journey to the North West to face Finn Harps in Ballybofey. The Kingdom will look to turn a Good Friday into a Great Friday in county Donegal as the Easter long weekend marks the first double match week of the season. Cobh Ramblers will be the visitors to Mounthawk Park on Monday afternoon.
Well, the Mounthawk Park side ended the first quarter of the season on a well-earned high. A dominant 3-0 win over Athlone Town in Tralee last week has put smiles on the Kerry supporter’s faces after a couple of tumultuous weeks both on and off the field. Young Brosna man managed to land his first and second home Kerry FC goals with a first-half brace and the 17-year-old is now the club’s leading goal scorer for the season. Ryan Kelliher, who has held that honour for the last 2 seasons made his home return off the bench and put the icing on the cake with his 86th-minute goal which put the tie firmly out of Athlone’s hands.
As for the hosts, after a tricky start to the season with the departure of manager Darren Murphy, Harps have gone four games unbeaten, with a big 5-0 home win over Bray Wanderers kicking their season into gear. Kerry FC ran out winners on the pitch in the opening game of the season against Finn Harps with a hard-earned 2-0, which was since annulled. Joe Adams and Niall Brookwell knocked home goals on their debuts on that occasion and the Kingdom will be hopeful of a similar result tomorrow night.
Matchday 10
Finn Harps v Kerry FC – Friday, April 18th – 19:45 Kick Off – Finn Park, Ballybofey
Previous Meetings – All Competitions
Finn Harps Wins 3 Draws 4 Kerry FC Wins 2**
Did You Know?
Tim-Oliver Hiemer and Daniel Okwute, both now regulars in the Kerry setup both formerly played their football in Finn Park. Last year, Antonio Tuta became the first player to play for both sides with harps on their crest. Kerry’s 2-0 win in this fixture on Matchday 1 was chalked off by office administrators in Dublin leaving the Kingdom fighting at the bottom of the table as opposed to being a couple of points short of a playoff berth.
Injury Update
The Kingdom have a fairly clean bill of health ahead of the double-game weekend. Nathan Gleeson remains sidelined but his recovery is now back on pitch-based work which is good news for the winger. Abel Alabi returned from suspension last week but illness cost him his place in the squad last week but is available for selection for the trip to the North West. Luke Palmer was subbed off as a precaution on Friday night and will be assessed ahead of this one while Alex Dunne and Daniel Okwute could be marked as doubtful after picking up knocks.
What they said?
Conor McCarthy – “Finn Harps are a brilliant side. Going up there is hard, they are probably the best team on their ground right across the league. They can be so difficult to get anything off in terms of actions on the pitch, never mind results. A very difficult game, a proper battle. Obviously, for us and for the fans, it’s the longest journey of the season so we don’t get a huge amount up there as you’d expect. So you really feel it. You’re up there, a long way from home, they make it a hostile environment but it’s a great challenge to be going up there and getting a result would be massive.”
