JUST like Kildare County, Kilkenny City began their league campaign with a defeat over the weekend so both teams will be wanting to get points when they meet this Saturday in the First Division.
The cats lost by a single goal against Galway United away at Terryland Park in a close fought battle last Sunday.
County have already played and beaten Kilkenny at Buckley Park in the First Division Cup this season.
A hat-trick by John Ryan was enough to bury Kilkenny in that encounter, and the same again would do Dermot Keely nicely.
Expect County to come out all guns blazing after the defeat against Limerick, another defeat would be a huge disappointment for County who want to get the new season of to a good start.
A number of Kildare players left Kilkenny last year so Buckley Park will hold no mystery for players such as Damien Brennan who played there last season.
Kilkenny had a disappointing First Division Cup series where they only won one match and were defeated a total of three times.
This looks like it could be a difficult season for the men from Buckley Park.
Venue and Time: Buckley Park Kilkenny, Saturday 31 August 7.30.
Recent Form: County DLWWL Kilkenny DWLWL
Previous Encounters: Kilkenny City 1 Kildare County 3 (Ryan 3) First Division Cup 11.7.02
League Position: County (12) Kilkenny (10)
-BY D.Lynch (Leinster Leader)
06/09/2002, 12:47 PM
KCFC
Kilkenny 4-1 County
KILDARE County slumped to their third defeat on the bounce with a shocking 4-1 loss against Kilkenny County at a mild and dry Buckley Park last Saturday evening.
County have now dropped to the bottom of the First Division after only two games, and the two week break before their next league game- at home against Athlone- will come as a welcome relief.
The break will give Dermot Keely some time to sort out some of the problems now befalling the Thoroughbred’s.
It is all a far cry from the sparkling early season form shown by County in the First Division Cup, which included a 3-1 victory over Kilkenny City at Buckley Park.
On Saturday night at Buckley Park, the First Division Cup finalists battled gamely, but could not stop themselves going down to a third successive comprehensive defeat.
The home side took the lead through an Alan O’Connor strike in the 25th minute, and they held the lead for almost an hour before an own goal brought County back into contention.
In front of the small crowd of approximately 500 souls, County grabbed the lifeline of the Wolfe og on 76 minutes, and it looked like a good result was the cards for the away side.
However County were blown away by three late goals - two from David Mulcahy and one from his brother Jackie - sent Kildare to the bottom of the table, having conceded seven goals in their first two league matches.
The three late goals gave an almost unreal feel to the scoreline, however for County it is very much a case of the only way is up now in the League.
The home match against Athlone in a fortnights time has now become an extremely important contest with County desperate to get some points on the board.
KILKENNY CITY: O’Neill, Wolfe, Murphy, M Andrews, D Whittle, D Mulcahy, Andrews, Sweeney, O’Connor, O’Toole, Tynan.
saw the highlights on Chorus. Looked like a very poor game. Both sides hoofed way too much. Funny thing was, both looked like they can play a bit, which made the long-ball tactics even more ridiculous. Kildare defence looked desperate at times. Tony Tynan looked pretty good, and Shay Zellor really shone for Kildare.
