With temperatures set to reach up to 27 degrees at kick-off time on Saturday, the summer football season is well and truly upon us. After the Kerry supporters have been treated to numerous downpours on the road this season, a well-earned break from the Irish weather is welcome on Saturday evening.
Colin Healy will be hoping that the upturn in the weather forecast will also lead to an upturn in performances on the field. His side has suffered 3 straight defeats in the league for the first time during his tenure, and with a break from league action for a Cup night in Mounthawk Park next week, Kerry will be hoping to turn around what has been a poor run of form over the last 14 days or so.
As for our hosts tomorrow night, their form has been decent since the turn of the season after the break. They enjoyed back-to-back wins, first away to Wexford and then in Bishopsgate against Midland rivals Athlone Town. They were beaten 2-0 at home in their last home game against UCD, and a stalemate in Finn Park is not to be sniffed at last time out.
Longford sit a single point ahead of Kerry on the table in what is becoming a congested bottom half of the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division table, and a win for the Kingdom could get play-off hopes back on track in Mounthawk Park.
Matchday 23
Longford Town v Kerry FC – Saturday, July 12th – 19:30 Kick Off – Bishopsgate
Previous Meetings – All Competitions
Kerry FC Wins 3 Draws 2 Longford Town Wins 5
Did You Know?
Former Kerry FC captain Andy Spain now lines out with Longford Town. The Kildare native made the switch from the Kingdom to the Midlands during the off-season and has been a regular feature in the Midlanders’ Starting XI
Injury Update
Colin Healy gave some good news on the injury front earlier this week as he reported a near full bill of health ahead of tomorrow night’s game. Ronan Teahan has returned to full team training this week and is available for selection. Joe Adams has also recovered from his quad injury this week and is back in full contention.
What they said?
Colin Healy – “We need to show a bit of character now, you want a reaction from the squad after last week. I would like to think you’ll see that against Longford. In these situations, when things mightn’t be going so well, you probably find out what players have that bit of fight and character in them. That they want to be a footballer, and they will go out and prove that to you. That’s what I want, I want them to go out and prove people wrong. Some will say, ‘oh ya, ye aren’t good enough’, so then you get these opportunities to go out and show people what you can do. I always say that to the players, go out and show those people what you’re made of. We had a difficult night on Friday night, but we’ve an opportunity to correct that now against Longford on Saturday night.”
