After the heroics of Monday evening’s Munster Derby victory over Cork City, the Kingdom make the 816km round journey to Ballybofey tomorrow night to take on Finn Harps on matchday 15 of the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division campaign.
Kerry can be well pleased with their efforts over the May Day bank holiday weekend, securing 4 points and two clean sheets against 2 of the league’s most in-form sides. Friday night in Athlone, the Kingdom showed great defensive ability to keep a strong Athlone Town attack scoreless, while Kerry might question how they didn’t manage to nick a winner.
Monday told a different story as league leaders Cork City lost the second of two Munster Derbies in just 4 days. Niall Brookwell, a former name on the Turners Cross books, scored the only goal on an epic afternoon in Tralee that saw Kerry get the better of Cork City for the first time in the club’s history.
But if anything is going to bring you back down to earth, it is the trip from the south to the north-west to face a Finn Harps side buoyed by their win over Bray Wanderers in Finn Park on Monday evening. It’s one of the longest journeys in the League of Ireland, and Kerry will once again have to be at their very best to secure a result in the famous old ground.
A win for Kerry would see the Kingdom leapfrog the Donegal outfit into 8th place on the table. Harps’ win over Bray stopped the rot of 4 straight defeats and earned their first win since late March. So it’s two teams who have bounced back from a poor run of form coming up against each other, as both sides look to edge closer to the elusive play-off positions.
Head-to-head
Kerry FC Wins – 3 Draws – 5 Finn Harps Wins – 5
Did You Know?
Mounthawk Park to Finn Park in Ballybofey is the second-longest journey in the League of Ireland in 2026. Only Cobh Ramblers & Finn Harps are separated by a further distance (862km).
Injury Update
It’s as you are for Colin Healy’s men regarding availability. Harry Halwax, Kieran Cooney, Daniel Okwute, and Finn Barrett all remain sidelined. Cian Bargary will miss the trip north due to suspension following his sending off in the victory over Cork City.
‘What they said’
Colin Healy – “We go again now, and we focus on the next match. The lads will come in and do their recovery work. We will go up there with a game plan and aim for the 3 points. We will see how we are with knocks this week, obviously 3 games in 7 days with Athlone and Cork as well, and we have to consider the travel time up as well. Monday night’s result was brilliant; it’s given everyone a huge lift.”