After the thrills and spills of the Sports Direct Men’s FAI Cup last weekend, Kerry return to league action on Friday night with the visit of the students of UCD AFC to Mounthawk Park.
It was contrasting fortunes for the sides in cup action last week. Kerry scored an equaliser with the very last kick of the game through a Joe Adams free kick before Kennedy Amechi won the day for Kerry over Athlone in Extra time to set up a mouth-watering last 16 clash against neighbours Cobh Ramblers in a few weeks. UCD, meanwhile, exited the cup with an unconvincing 3-0 defeat away to Finn Harps.
But back on league form, and it’s Kerry who need to get back on track if any hopes of a play-off berth are still alive. 4 straight league defeats coming into this tie makes it almost a must-win for Colin Healy’s charges if they are to start making up the places. With UCD making up the final play-off place, Kerry need to attempt to close a 12-point gap to the students. But UCD have been on a fine run of their own. They’ve gone 4 games unbeaten. Garnering 10 of a possible 12 points, so are in good form coming to Tralee. Was the cup game just a blip, or can Kerry capitalise on UCD’s disappointing cup exit 6 days ago? All being said, it has the makings of a cracker in the Kingdom.
Matchday 24
Kerry FC v UCD AFC – Friday, July 25th – 7:45pm Kick Off – Mounthawk Park
Previous Meetings – All Competitions
Kerry FC Wins 1 Draws 1 UCD AFC Wins 4
Did You Know?
Kerry secured their first win over UCD when the sides last met. In a game that had it all, Sean McGrath scored the only goal of the game. But Kerry keeper Tim-Oliver Hiemer was the hero, saving not one but two penalty kicks to ensure Kerry left South Dublin with all 3 points.
Injury Update
Colin Healy this week confirmed that both Oran Crowe and Luke Palmer are back in training with the first team squad. Tim-Oliver Hiemer requires a scan on his broken finger while Ryan Kelliher and Nathan Gleeson remain long-term absentees.
What they said?
Colin Healy – “UCD are a very good side, they are extremely well organised and have a very good manager. They are going very well. We won’t be looking at their last game; the league form shows how good they are. The one thing I would say is that we are at home, and performances in general have been very good in Mounthawk Park. We’ve made it a tough place to come, and hopefully it will be no different on Friday night.”