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By Ivan Hurley
Kerry FC host Finn Harps as the Donegal side makes the long trip to the south-west to Mounthawk Park with kick-off at 7.45 tomorrow (Friday).
The Kingdom come into the game off the back of 6 straight defeats in the SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division, with the side’s last point coming against Treaty United in the Markets Field on Matchday 11 back in early April.
Kerry, who had a run of eight games unbeaten will look to regain some sort of form before the summer break in a few weeks.
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With the return of the club’s captain Andy Spain, Kerry have plenty of options to choose from. Kerry’s recent trip to Wexford was a disappointing result for the side, equalling their biggest losing margin of the season at 2 goals to nil. But that’s where the problem lies for Kerry, losing out by narrow margins in closely fought games across the country.
Finn Harps come into the game on a rather mixed run of form and currently sits in 5th on the table, four points inside the play-off places as it stands.
A 3-3 draw last time out in Belfield against UCD was an important result for the North Westerners, but recent defeats against Cobh Ramblers and Treaty United will give Kerry some confidence going into this one.
Of course, the last meeting of the sides was a great result for the league’s newcomers, coming away from Finn Park in Ballybofey with a clean sheet and a point.
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. The Croatian made the move to Ireland in August and produced some fine saves to deny Kerry a point on our last trip to Ballybofey.
Tuta signed for Kerry in the winter transfer window and quickly became the Kingdom’s number 1 between the sticks.
With the club captain Andy Spain returning against Wexford FC last Friday, Kerry have a near full squad to choose from once again ahead of tomorrow night’s game in Mounthawk Park.
Jack Kavanagh suffered a slight knock in training earlier in the week and he will be assessed closer to kick-off. Ronan Teahan will be sitting this one out due to accumulated yellow cards, he misses with suspension
“It’s very hard to be consistent in this league,” said James Sugrue. “You can start the season well and you can go on a poor run and the confidence dips, maybe have a few injuries and you lose a couple of games. The big thing now for us is to obviously turn it around Friday night at home. Especially as I say it’s a long trip down for the opposition, playing on our own astro pitch which we are used to, so we need to use all this to our advantage.”
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