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By Ivan Hurley
WELL, it may be mid-summer, but there is almost an autumn feel to the weather in the Kingdom this week. But the weather is sure to be a damn sight better than it was back in February when these sides last met.
Five goals, a red card, thunder, lightning, snow, hail, high winds and torrential rain in a game that lasted over 120 minutes. One would hope that sort of drama won’t ensue on Friday night.
Kerry come into this one on a mixed run of form. In the last 8 games, Kerry are unbeaten in 4 home matches (3 wins, 1 draw) but have been beaten in the last 4 away matches.
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Football can be a funny game but when you look at the overall picture, Kerry’s home form must be taken into account when previewing current matches in Tralee.
Beaten by one goal in each of the last 4 away matches does put a sting in the good news story but Kerry will be keen to add another 3 points to the table on Friday night.
But Bray Wanderers have been a stickler for the Kingdom to date. Six previous meetings all ending in defeat for the league newcomers over the last 19 months will leave Conor McCarthy’s charges wanting to get some sort of revenge on the Seagulls.
Bray come into the game in a mixed run of form themselves. Two straight defeats against top-of-the-table Cork City and bottom-of-the-table Longford Town tells you all you need to know about the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division season.
Wanderers sit 5th in the table on 31 points, 12 ahead of Kerry who are in 9th. A closed gap of 9 points to that final play off place would be very much welcomed by the Kerry FC manager
The last time these sides met in Mounthawk Park, the game was delayed due to a severe storm in Mounthawk Park.
A heavy snow shower followed by thunder and lightning saw the game delayed by some 30 minutes as the ground staff worked hard to get the pitch cleared. Bray went on to win a tremendous on-field battle by 3 goals to 2.
Speaking to the media earlier this week, First Team Head Coach Conor McCarthy issued no fresh injury concerns for the Kingdom ahead of this one.
Valerii Dolia is a step closer to his return but will be a couple of weeks away from a return to the matchday 20. Head Coach Conor McCarthy and forward Kennedy Amechi begin 3 match suspensions following red cards after last Thursday’-s game against Finn Harps.
“They (Bray) are going very well,” said Conor McCarthy. “Obviously, with Ian Ryan’s departure, I thought they might struggle a bit because they were on a good spell when Ian stepped away. But Lorcan has gone in there and seems to have continued that along and maybe even improved things further.”
“So I think they are doing really well at the moment, they have some really good players. Every time we’ve played them we’ve had a good competitive game so it’s important that we use Mounthawk Park to our advantage. When we do play at home we seem to make it very difficult for teams to come down here so we need to use that and give it a right go for the 90+ minutes and give a performance that will give us a chance to get a good result.”
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