Kerry have been committed to the underage leagues for many years. It should be the pathway for potential new clubs to emerge.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2022...lusion-in-loi/
Re the discussion on the other thread, unless there is a flurry of other applications in the offing, it would seem Billy Dennehy and the KDL are hopeful of joining next season's First Division. The biggest challenge in terms of a successful licence is probably financial, as promoting an all-county team should help with marketing the new club, and competitiveness shouldn't be an issue, given a number of reasonably strong junior sides in Kerry who would comprise the panel (Killarney Celtic, Castleisland, Tralee Dynamos, Listowel and Dingle, among others).
https://www.the42.ie/fai-accept-kerr...81098-Jun2022/
Kerry have been committed to the underage leagues for many years. It should be the pathway for potential new clubs to emerge.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2022...lusion-in-loi/
https://foot.ie/forums/117-Kerry-FC
A Championship: 4 years - 8 first teams - 0 financially ruined. First Division '14: 7 first teams.
Opportunity lost for new clubs/regions to join the LoI family.
Feels like we've been talking about a Kerry side stepping up/being created to join the LOI for years.
Sustainability is the key, but looks like they might have a bit of cash behind them? What's Mounthawk Park like does anyone know?
Author of Never Felt Better (History, Film Reviews).
Not bad at all to start off. With a new stand it would be perfect.
https://www.screenkerry.ie/locations...rmoneen-tralee
https://foot.ie/forums/117-Kerry-FC
A Championship: 4 years - 8 first teams - 0 financially ruined. First Division '14: 7 first teams.
Opportunity lost for new clubs/regions to join the LoI family.
Hope this happens. I'd certainly support a kerry side. My only reservation is another plastic pitch in the league.
I wouldn’t doubt them to be honest. What’s encouraging for me is they seem to have the right modest ambitions - a place for Kerry players to play on the national scene without having to go to Cork or Limerick. I’d be more negative if we’d some face front and centre, saying they expect to have European football/ be competing for the league in 5 or 6 years.
I believe that Billy Dennehy is strongly linked with this licence application along with some other investors. I have only being in Co Kerry once and that was in 1994. I would love to see them in it as the time is right now for them!
Gary Cronin is he the right man to manage Longford Town?
Yes, basically, the idea is that the squad would be largely based around the present U19 side, topped up with anyone interested in the KDL and any existing Kerry players in the LoI, such as Gary O'Neill. In that regard, the priority would simply be sustainability, and building up rivalries with other Munster teams, so eventual promotion would be nice but not essential. Have heard that Carlow-Kilkenny might also be interested in joining?
https://scoreline.ie/potential-loi-c...-oh-its-kerry/
Article from the local radio station in Kilkenny. Looks like a Women's team in the WNL is more likely in the next 2-3 years.
It's not a million miles away from being a decent First Division ground.
The completely open nature of that stand, with no fence or wall between the pitch and the seating is a bit strange.
Can't tell from any photos or videos I can see, but is there any other terracing in around the ground?
https://kesslereffect.bandcamp.com/album/kepler - New music. It's not that bad.
Lot of work needed on Mounthawk Park, if that current stand was extended the full length of the pitch on one side would be sufficient for the First Division. If all goes according to plan, I reckon that the Kerry setup have arrangements in place to bring their facilities up to a standard for the league when they get the official go ahead!
I get why people dont like artificial turf but there are a whole lot more things to have reservations about than another playable and approved playing surface in the league.
Would there genuinely be a cross county following eg people travelling from Killarney/Tralee/Listowel etc to one ground, support a one trying to fit all set up? Im not being skeptical, just interested in whether it could really have such county wide appeal. Even in GAA circles if one club has more players at county level it grinds the gears of other clubs. I think it was a mistake when Kildare County tried for wider community support rather than be parochial as Newbridge eg. Maybe the bigger the county the less rivalry there is between the (urban) areas so could work better than a Kildare. There is no shortage of people in Louth that would prefer some mutual destruction of their North/South Louth based club or sport than collective county development. Louth GAA insisted for years on quotas of players being selected from North/Mid/South Louth rather than the strongest panel - I think other sports would have been the same if there was a county representative side. Imagine suggesting Galway County FC or a Galway United with 2 or 3 clubs involved......Would it be different in Kerry or will integration at underage and womens game done over so much time be the difference?
Last edited by Nesta99; 03/06/2022 at 3:23 AM.
Hard to know on the crowds. When kerry u21s joined the eircom league there were roughly 1500 at opening game against Waterford in mounthhawk Park but attendances dropped after that and that was a good kerry team.
Nesta you would know more about artificial pitches than I do but any game I've watched on them is dreadful with players struggling to control the ball.
The current playing surface allows many more games to be played in that ground. Nothing wrong with it.
https://foot.ie/forums/117-Kerry-FC
A Championship: 4 years - 8 first teams - 0 financially ruined. First Division '14: 7 first teams.
Opportunity lost for new clubs/regions to join the LoI family.
Excited for this. Hopefully the football community in Kerry can come together to support the team, and they are able to establish themselves in League. Do they were green and white hoops? Or do they have different colours?
It is very difficult for new clubs (well really all clubs) to establish themselves and create a fanbase/ supporters structure though. Most clubs at this stage have been 'grandfathered' into the local community. I think the majority of fans had their first taste of LOI as a kid, and would have personally known a regular attender even before they came to the ground. In the regional towns without LOI, that habit is just not there.
LOI seasons are a slog (compared to every other sports in Ireland) and take a lot of commitment. Creating a fanbase with a habit of going bi-weekly once the novelty wears off is extremely difficult and is a multi-generational project (although for us fans, its very rewarding). Maybe that is why it is easier to 'promote' an existing team rather than creating a brand new team as you would have more people already giving that commitment to the existing team, like Newbridge Town, rather than to a new entity of Kildare County.
In saying that, I hope too that other regional areas can get an LOI team, be it from the established underage LOI-Teams or established Junior teams. I think its healthy for football in the country, and generally good for those areas.
This is the shirt worn by the underage teams, so the senior club would presumably wear the same:
https://www.kerrydistrictleague.ie/w...te-768x960.jpg
Last edited by culloty82; 03/06/2022 at 12:12 PM.
They certainly can be unforgiving and poor and overhit passes, are less disguised and poor control and technique can be more obvious especially if the pitch isnt brushed and watered. Nothing will top a well maintained grass pitch, but a well maintained artificial is better than a poor grass pitch. Familiarity with the surface type is a help and I doubt any club wont have access to train of 4G prior to games in Dundalk and Derry. The pitch that seems to have been struggled with most so far this season is in The Showgrounds, and turned what could have been games full of quality in to more longball and head tennis. It is what t is though and part of why we play home and away having to cope with the varying types and quality of pitches.
More info from The Kerryman about the American backing for the plans:
https://www.independent.ie/regionals...-41714875.html
The First Division is more interesting these days with the playoffs keeping a lot more teams "active".
https://foot.ie/forums/117-Kerry-FC
A Championship: 4 years - 8 first teams - 0 financially ruined. First Division '14: 7 first teams.
Opportunity lost for new clubs/regions to join the LoI family.
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