After another historic evening in Mounthawk Park last Friday night, the Kingdom’s focus shifts back to League action and the race for the play-off places, which is really warming up 13 games from the end of the campaign. 10th place Finn Harps are the visitors to the sunny south west on Friday night in a game that always stirs up all sorts of drama!
Momentum is definitely with Colin Healy’s outfit, who took a big scalp last Friday night in the Club Orange Men’s FAI Cup, knocking Premier Division side Shelbourne out of the cup after a dramatic penalty shootout win. It would be fair to say Kerry were hard done by for it not to finish after the 90 minutes, but, either way, Kerry safely booked their spot in the last 16 of the competition that the Kingdom reached the semi-finals of last year.
On a warm night in Tralee, 120 minutes of high-intensity action plus the drama of a penalty shootout will have taken a lot of energy from the players, but off the high of the victory, focus has sharply shifted back to the play-off race in the First Division. A great run of form, which saw Kerry only beaten once in 5 since the summer break, has catapulted Healy’s side up the league table and within touching distance of the top 5. That, coupled with an eight-game unbeaten run on home turf for Kerry, has seen a resurgence in the middle third of the campaign.
Finn Harps are in contrasting fortunes at the moment. Bray Wanderers were the victors in their cup tie last Friday night in Finn Park, ending the Donegal outfit’s cup dreams for another season. Their league form has also taken a dip, with just one win since overcoming the Kingdom in Ballybofey at the start of May. That win came at home to Wexford, with their last 3-pointer on the road coming back in March. But Harps will be looking to spring back off the bottom of the table with a vital 3 points in Tralee. Although in 10th, Harps remain just 9 points off the play-off places, so the hunt is still alive for them heading into the final 13 games of the season.
So it’s all to play for in Mounthawk Park on Friday night.
Head-to-head
Kerry FC Wins – 3 Draws – 5 Finn Harps Wins – 6
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
Colin Healy has a relatively clean bill of health heading into tomorrow’s game against Finn Harps. Matt Connor returns from suspension and is available for selection. Arran Healy has also returned from injury and was amongst the substitutes last week. Finn Barrett is closer to a return, while Luke Doolan has a groin injury which is keeping him sidelined.
‘What they said’
Colin Healy – “It’s going to be a very difficult match; I think we need to be focused and at it for the 90 minutes. It’s always been tough playing them; up there when we last played them we conceded with the last kick of the game. Kevin does a very good job; his teams are well organised. So we just need to focus on ourselves and make sure we are ready to give everything on Friday night. The most important thing is that we keep climbing the table. We have everything to play for, especially the form we have been in over the last 5 games; 10 points from 15 is very good form. So if we can just continue that now, keep putting points on the board, we will climb up that table. That’s the target for us, and we will try everything to get there.”