Longford Town trip to Tralee for tricky task against Kerry FC

Longford Town make the long journey to Mounthawk Park on Friday (kick-off 7.45pm) to play Kerry FC who lost their two opening games of the 2026 season.

 Last season the Town played Kerry on four occasions and the spoils were shared as both teams won their home games. 

The first game was at Bishopsgate in mid March and the Town won the game 3-2. Joshua Giurgi was the Town’s hero on the night scoring twice and the third goal came from centre half Aaron Walsh. 

The next meeting between the clubs was at the end of May and it was played in Kerry. On that occasion Kerry won the game on a 2-0 scoreline. Luke Palmer and Niall Brookwell were the scorers and by all accounts the Town could have picked up a point but it’s hard to get a result down there. 

The next meeting between the clubs was at Bishopsgate in mid-July and on that occasion the Town ran out 3-1 winners. 

Stefan Ugbesia was the Longford star that night, helping himself to two goals and the third goal was scored by last year’s captain Dean O’Shea.

The final fixture between the clubs last season took place in Kerry and the home side won the game 1-0. 

 Kerry have the very experienced Colin Healy as their manager and he is one of the most respected coaches in the league and a clever football man. 

Last weekend our near neighbours Athlone Town travelled down to Kerry and they got three points by virtue of a 1-0 result. 

By all accounts the home side were in control for most of the game and they missed a few scoreable chances and the visitors stole three points with a very late goal. The result means that the Kerry side has gone ten games from the end of last season up to last weekend without a victory and the club who have big investment will not tolerate such a bad run of results. 

With big investment the club are going to continue bringing in experienced players as they strive to get away from the dreaded bottom end of the First Division table. 

Manager Healy has brought in some experienced players and he will be hoping that those new recruits will get the team into a stronger position.

 Former Waterford player Matthew Connor is holding down the goalkeeping jersey after moving from the Blues. The former Republic under 21 keeper is a good and very experienced keeper.

The arrival of former Bray defender Kilian Cantwell should be a huge bonus to the Kerry squad. Cantwell who previously played with Waterford also is a big no nonsense defender and he is partnered in defence by another new arrival who also joined the club from Cobh Ramblers. 

Jonas Hakkinen is a defender that takes no chances in defence and he should forge a great partnership with Cantwell. 

Vincent Borden, who previously played with Galway United is another good signing as is Brandan Bermingham. Midfielder Sean McGrath is a very busy player who never stops running. Sean O’Connell is another experienced player who is one of the long serving players in the team and along with Niall Brookwell they are the mainstay of this new club.

 Daniel Okwute is a very exciting prospect and he will need to be closely watched in the Kerry attack. He scored in their opening game in the 2-1 defeat to UCD in the opening game of the season in Belfield. 

Kerry are the young club in terms of experience in the First Division. The arrival of Healy as manager and the new investors have meant that Kerry have the advantage over other First Division clubs who are chasing promotion to the Premier Division. 

With two games played to date Kerry are pointless and no doubt will be trying hard to get a win against the Town on Friday.

Longford’s new look team were unlucky on Saturday night not to get at least a draw against a Cobh side who were well beaten by Wexford at home the previous weekend. 

The two Cobh goals could have been avoided but such is the situation in soccer in the First Division that a few lapses in concentration can cause the loss of three points.The two goals we conceded were poor but so was our efforts up front as we chased scores.

 Aaron Doran took his penalty expertly but after that we had chances but we lacked that killer instinct up front. Admittedly we are blooding new players at the moment as we had six home deputantes during the game which is a lot to try and get them used to our system.

 When you looked at the two teams on the pitch on Saturday you could see that Cobh were a much bigger and stronger team physically and one has to say that the man in the middle (ref) was poor to say the least but unfortunately this is part of football at the moment.

Last season we had strength in depth and we sorely miss Emmanuel James who scored some vital goals when introduced in games. 

Heading down to Kerry on Friday next it’s a must that we get something out of the game as we need to pick up points immediately.

 Kerry were so unlucky not to get something out of the game against Athlone who are now sitting pretty at the top of the table alongside promotion and title favourites Cork City who hammered Wexford last weekend.