By Ivan Hurley
It’s the penultimate home game of the season for Kerry FC as Donegal’s Finn Harps make the long and winding journey to the county capital tomorrow night.
Kerry come into the game in a poor run of form, most notably without a win since July and without a league win since mid-June. With just 3 draws in that space of that time,
Kerry find themselves stuck in a small bit of limbo as the season draws to a close. With a final home game against Athlone to come, which is sandwiched by away trips to Wexford and Cobh in the coming weeks, Kerry will be desperate to get some points on the board before the season draws to a close.
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The visitors Finn Harps, on the other hand, are in a right battle for the play-off places.
Currently in 6th, the North Westerners are 3 points adrift of the coveted places with 4 games to play. Every result and point will be vital if they are to leap ahead of the likes of Bray, Wexford and Athlone ahead of them in the race.
3 wins and a draw in the last 4 games has seen them put a stop to a 6 game-losing streak and will be full of confidence ahead of their trip to the Kingdom.
Very little has separated the sides in the 7 meetings to date. In fact, Kerry’s 2-0 win over Harps earlier this season was the biggest winning margin for either side in the clubs short history. The game has produced 3 draws to date, 2 of which ended scoreless, both in Ballybofey.
Two of Kerry FC’s main men in 2024 played for the Donegal side in 2023. Winger Daniel Okwute played for Harps on loan from Stockport County for the opening months of last season and even faced his home town club Kerry twice while playing for Finn Harps before he secured a move home in July last year. Kerry’s shot-stopper Antonio Tuta also played for Finn Harps last term.
Thankfully, no fresh injury concerns have been reported by the management team ahead of this one. Everyone made it through Monday night’s Friendly fixture against the Munster FA so the management team have a full deck of cards to choose from.
Conor McCarthy said; ‘For us, it’s trying to get the best team on the pitch to win the game. Sometimes, certain games require different personnel and each game has its own story. We’ve looked at Finn Harps and there is no doubt they are a very good side. Very good physically, a direct team and there is no denying their quality in the middle of the pitch. Our team will be picked on what we think is best for us to get 3 points’.