Trip to Tralee a tricky task for Longford Town against improving Kerry FC

After a break from the league last weekend, Longford Town face the long journey to Tralee on Friday to play Kerry FC in the start of the final round of games in the First Division, kick-off 7.45pm.

Kerry may only be a few years in senior football but they have improved gradually and now they are capable of causing upsets. 

Last weekend they played Cobh Ramblers at home in the Cup and surprisingly beat the visitors 2-0 to qualify for the quarter-finals.

Cian Brosnan and sub Joe Adams from the penalty spot were the Kerry scorers but that doesn’t tell the true story of the game. 

Cobh, who are second in the First Division, were under pressure from the second minute when John O’Donovan was red carded and they ended with nine men when Shane Griffin also saw red on 90 minutes. 

As we all know it’s completely different in the Cup from the pressure in league games and Kerry did very well to qualify for the quarter-finals of the 2025 FAI Cup.

This is a great boost for the club and their new manager Colin Healy who has replaced Conor McCarthy. 

Longford Town are out of the Cup after a gallant display against Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on Sunday evening last. 

The record will show that the runaway Premier Division leaders Shamrock Rovers beat the Town 2-1 but it took two debatable penalties to get them through. 

In his interview after the game Rovers manager Stephen Bradley was talking about making nine changes from the team that started in Europe on Thursday last but he didn’t mention that he has two teams within the club as they can call on at least 30 players who are capable of playing with any of the other top Premier teams. 

As the Premier league stands at the moment Rovers are 10 points ahead of the second team Bohemians with Derry City and Drogheda United a further point behind. Rovers boss Bradley could bring on the likes of Aaron Greene and Graham Burke who scored the winning goal. 

The Town started the same team as that which beat Treaty United 2-0 at Bishopsgate the previous weekend  with the exception of Kian Moore who started in goal in place of Harry Halwax. 

Moore did very well against Rovers but it is now back to the bread and butter of the league and we must  concentrate on the final nine games.

Let’s hope we can pick up enough points to enable us to chase fifth place and a promotion play-off place which is a possibility for our hard working team. 

Kerry have the home advantage on Friday night but we know that we can beat them as we have done so on two occasions in this year’s league campaign. 

The first meeting between the clubs this season was at Bishopsgate and the Town won that game 3-2. Kerry ended with ten players as Abel Alabi was sent off in the 81st minute. 

Longford travelled to Kerry at the end of May and on that occasion the home side won 2-0. Luke Palmer opened the scoring for Kerry on the stroke of half-time and Sean McGrath extended their lead from the penalty spot. 

The penalty was awarded against Eric Yoro who saw red in the 52nd minute to give Kerry 3 precious points. The most recent game between the clubs was in mid July and the Town won that game on a 3-1 scoreline. Stefan Ugbesia was the hero on that occasion scoring two goals in the 3rd and 58th minutes. The Town’s other goal came from team captain Dean O’Shea. 

Kerry have improved since Colin Healy has taken over and there is no doubt that they will be at their best on Friday, especially after beating Cobh in the Cup last weekend. 

The Town had a tough examination on Sunday against the country’s top team and Shamrock Rovers had to bring on the big guns as they struggled to put the Town away.

Referee Alan Patchell’s handling of the game left a lot to be desired and it's a sad day that certain people can make such a big impression in matches for the wrong reasons.

Let’s hope we can continue our impressive form on Friday against Kerry and take home three valuable points and possibly move up the table. There is no doubt this will be a very tough game but we can do it!