QuoteProbably worth doing less of that if it keeps them rooted to the bottom of the table. They do appear to have cast the net further afield in terms of player recruitment for this year though to be fairOriginally Posted by nr637
It does take time, but Kerry FC have a great structure developing players that feed into the senior team.
Maybe Wexford is another club to highlight, that has grown over the years. It's more about sustaining a club in the community.
I think Wexford have achieved that now and Kerry will be trying to follow a similar path.
If you ask most supporters down in the Kerry area, they are happy to have entered the league system, created a Friday night experience and will follow and support the club as it offers the best way forward for the Kerry football league system.
Probably worth doing less of that if it keeps them rooted to the bottom of the table. They do appear to have cast the net further afield in terms of player recruitment for this year though to be fair
Paaatrick's Agletic
I think in time Kerry FC will surprise a lot of clubs in the First Division. It's also a great new away day for fans which is also part of why the league is becoming so popular!
Plenty of teams in the past have come in, made bright sounds, finished bottom too often, and vanished. Kildare, Monaghan, Kilkenny, Thurles, Fingal and more.
Tbh I see Kerry as an example of what's broken about the LoI. Promoted when they weren't ready, uncompetitive for two years, saved by there being no relegation, and losing their early momentum while at it
I don't think that's a fair assessment as Kerry FC have done brilliantly by marketing the team to the county of Kerry rather being considered as a Tralee team.
Monaghan, Kildare, even Thurles Town failed during a time when the league was deeply sick an unorganised.
As far as considering more Dublin based clubs, I always think when I see Swords, Lucan or Fingal areas being suggested for a new LOI spot, it doesn't really have an identity in the same way as Mayo FC or Kerry FC does.
I don't think the East Coast has the need for another footballing side. The formula has already been tried with Sporting Fingal and Dublin City.
In an ideal situation the major town in each county should have a team, although that's not being realistic. Personally, I would love to see: navan, kildare county, kilkenny city, a tipperary team, Ennis, portlaoise, tullamore town, cavan-monaghan as future potential LOI clubs.
Outside of the "identity" issue a lot of those places are well served by LOI clubs already. Lucan for example you can get the bus to tallaght, inchicore is just down the road and even Bohs is quite easy to get to if you drive (I know because I do it weekly). Dublin is a well populated area but it's also quite small when you actually look at it in comparison to other cities around the world. Then you also have the existing junior clubs in the area. If people from the wider Dublin area don't support an existing LOI team or one of their local junior teams I don't know that they're going to be interested in supporting a new LOI team.
Tbh with Kerry FC having recruited I think a coach from Galway Utd I think they are the team to follow imo.
Gary Cronin is he the right man to manage Longford Town?
Marketing is all well and good, but it doesn't put the ball in the net. This idea that "I don't think the east coast has the need for another football side" is based on nothing. If that's where the population is and that's where the players are and a team comes along and earns promotion on the pitch - well then why not? Better than another west coast side being rooted to the bottom of the First Division for a few seasons.
(And I think both those are the opposite end of the same extreme FWIW. I just don't see how you can single Kerry out as the way forward for most clubs)
All rather fourpence looking down on tuppence, Stu?
Maybe if I were claiming UCD were the way forward for new clubs it would be, yeah.
Kerry did over double their points tally in a season and came pretty close to not coming last and didn't have the lowest attendance in the league, pretty decent for 2 seasons work imo. The difference between them and other clubs who went by the wayside is the underage league system that now exists, that's where you get your community and how clubs survive long enough to grow IMO, Kerry are doing just fine.
Edit: I'm discarding whatever the hell went on in the Bray/Cabo schemozzle, which I will never understand, and definitely indicative of the sort of stuff we need to avoid.
Last edited by Acornvilla; 10/02/2025 at 4:11 PM.
You are right, Kerry have done well, they have put a level of football accompanied by an improved coaching environment, and a pathway if you become good enough into national underage sides and the pro game, into an area of the country where that wasn't so, no matter how potentially good a youngster might be.
That's why I agree with you on geographical spread also, that network of combined standard of coaching hopefully, by the FAI opening up that pathway to all areas, if a youngster has a chance, its not there at the moment, it has never been there. Not for all. Most interesting about this is that nationwide reach part for me, where these clubs are, and beginning to harness our pool of potential talent fully in time.
Where these clubs finish in these leagues hardly matters, its level three of an after thought game on the Irish sporting landscape anyway. What matters is they continue to exist and improve coaching available everywhere possible. We've a small enough population as it is, every potential professional player counts. This has to be subsidised if necessary even.
Or, we can keep hoping lads with one or two Irish grandparents give up on playing for England and make a pragmatic second choice career move.
Can't believe the Kerry negativity....they've been getting better all the time over 2 short years. No old LOI warhorses shipped in to ease the landing just local and other new talent. At their best they play really slick football. And solid fan base already...
All as may be, but that's enough to single them out as an example for other new clubs. Kildare were similar when they started out and they even got to a Cup final in their first few weeks..
If the third tier ever gets off the ground then it'll be immediate relegation and budget cuts for a team that follows Kerry's example.
I've a soft spot for the club given I'm originally from Kerry, but let's not hold them up as a model for most new clubs to follow.
Kerry have done well no doubt but they have also been able to garner some significant outside investment that's not guaranteed for that level for any new club,absolutely nothing wrong with outside investment either but just feel it's important to point out....
Irish by birth ,Harps by the grace of god.
I always knew there was something off about you...
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
That brings up the whole question of whether the short-term goal of a new club should be to bring in as many outsiders as possible in immediate pursuit of the play-offs, with no guarantee of success in any event, or to offer a platform for local players to pursue a senior soccer career. Now, you might reply that only Gaxha and Williams have benefited from that springboard so far, but Kelliher would have had his pick of offers had he wanted to move on, and Sean O'Connell is also certainly capable of playing at a higher level. I'll be delighted if the new arrivals work out this term, and extra experience was undoubtedly needed, but as with any window, the jury remains out for now.
There are also plenty of LOI clubs who've followed the more traditinal 'been around for years' model who still managed to make a horlicks of their time at senior level. And there'll probably be more of them at risk of relegation over the years than the likes of Kerry. If we'd had a 3rd tier just a couple of season's ago Athlone Town - the country's oldest club - would've gone down.
Why would a new team immediately jump into the first division (2nd tier) if a 2nd division(third tier) exists? Would they not simply go into the 2nd division straight away where they can follow the Kerry model with zero risk of relegation. Admittedly I may be missing something from another post on this thread but to me if you join the league of Ireland you join at the lowest rung not half way up the ladder, or step stool as the case may be
This is the key point here, that's exactly what would happen. It's worth pointing out that the 3rd tier is where Kerry has planned on operating, but with a space opening up in the 1st division with Cabinteely "merging", and no sign of a 3rd tier at that point they took the brave decision to go for it.
And if they continue to improve season on season for the next few, that decision will be vindicated.
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