Home ground can help Dingle Bay into last 16
DINGLE Bay Rovers take the Kerry flag into the last 32 of the Umbro FAI Junior Cup next Sunday when they host Carndonagh FC from Donegal in the West Kerry town.
Their opponents came from a goal down to defeat Dublin side CIE Branch 31 in the last round of the competition so their pedigree cannot be under estimated. At present they are mid table in the Inisowen Football League 10 points adrift of the leaders.
Dingle have become the dark horses in the competition from a Kerry point of view putting many formidable sides to the sword along the way.
A side that withdrew from the league just a couple of years ago, they have come back stronger than ever winning their way back to the top flight of Kerry soccer where they have been going well so far this season.
While they face a stiff challenge on Sunday they should be more than capable of rising to the challenge and if they play to their full potential could be in with a good chance of winning the game.
They have got this far in the competition the hard way, winning two games in penalty shoot outs.
They are a side strong in most departments of play with custodian Tommy Pierse a good shot stopper, defenders Donacha Higgins, Des Malley, Patrick Neylon and Ciaran Staunton always keeping a tight ship, Sean Scanlon, James Coffey, Eoin Murphy and Dara Flaherty strong in the middle while up front they have a great goalscoring machine in Sean O'connor is always at the ready when presented with a scoring opportunity, while other players in the equation include Tony Lawless, Shane Houlihan and Chris Malley.
Home advantage should be a big asset to the West Kerry side and let's hope they can come up trumps on Sunday and advance to the last 16 in the national competition.
- Mike Rice
