It is a massive weekend in our Academy as our Men’s Under 17 side face Bray Wanderers in Mounthawk Park for a place in the Mark Farren Cup Final for 2024. The Kingdom reached the last 8 in 2023, going down to Shamrock Rovers by the narrowest of margins in the quarter final.
An impressive 1-0 win over Wexford FC booked Kerry’s place in the semi final this term, Robert Keane’s first half effort was enough to see Kerry progress. Before that, a 5-1 away win for Kerry in St Colman’s Park over Cobh Ramblers really set the side in motion for a cup run.
There is a 2pm kick off on Sunday afternoon in Mounthawk Park for the final. So get out and show your support this weekend for our MU17’s who are just 90 minutes away from playing in the showpiece final.
Elsewhere this weekend:
Saturday
• MU20’s home to Bray Wanderers – 2pm
• WU17’s away to St. Patrick’s Athletic – 2pm
• MU15’s home to Klub Kildare – 2pm
Earlier this week, Kerry FC Media Officer Ivan Hurley sat down with Damian Locke, the clubs Head of Academy to look ahead to this weekend’s cup semi final.
IVAN: So Damian, it’s the Mark Farren Cup semi-final this weekend, there must be a great feeling around the Academy ahead of this one?
DAMIAN: Yes definitely, we’ve created a good environment across the academy and the MU15’s and MU20’s played their role this week in preparing the boys ahead of Sunday which is great to see. It’s brilliant to have progressed to this stage of the competition, days like Sunday will inspire and motivate the younger lads coming through the academy but we’ve spoke all week about the approach to this game and using the home advantage. We don’t want to be leaving Mounthawk Park on Sunday with a moral victory, we have a great opportunity in one off game to reach a National Cup Final so they need to perform like they’ve done in the cup run to date and leave everything on the field Sunday.
IVAN: It’s been a long season for the players, but getting to this stage of the Cup for the MU17s must be seen as a great achievement?
DAMIAN: It is, at the start of any season you’d be hoping to be in the hat for a National Cup semi-final draw so it’s a great credit to the staff and the group of players that have shown their quality and togetherness on this cup run.
IVAN: As a whole, how have the MU17’s been competing in 2024?
DAMIAN: The league campaign hasn’t gone to plan so far but they still have 18 points to play for between now and the end of the season to try make the top 4. As an academy our main focus is on progressing players up to the u20s for the league campaign which has a knock on effect but we’ve managed to find the balance to field a full strength team for the cup run which has worked well to date. As I referenced earlier there is a great core group of young men in that dressing room that have kept the group plugging away weekly so hopefully they can deliver a good performance and get their rewards for on Sunday.
IVAN: Elsewhere across the academy, how has the season been with 5 teams on the road this year?
DAMIAN: We have definitely seen progress in the terms of creating our identity across the Academy which would’ve being a key focus this season. We have had some great days with big wins but also had days that have made us reevaluate our approach which has helped us in terms of creating our identity and opportunity to challenge our players. As a whole 18 months into our Academy set up it’s night and day in comparison to kicking off 2023 Academy season but still not near where I would like us to be. We have had plenty of individuals progress on the pitch and shown that they are more than capable to continue doing so which is rewarding for the work the coaches put in.
